Steven B Brandes's Online Review Report Card

Dr. Brandes helped my husband through the years, saved his life. Great surgeon and wonderful human being. I will be thankful always to Dr. Brandes.

Dr Brandes did an uretra reconstruction for my husband which was completely destroyed by another doctor at the time of a prostate reductionsurgery. There were two mayor procedures that were done to correct the problem. I give thanks to God and to Dr Brandes for giving my husband his normal life back. Hope that people are lucky enough to find him during critical times.

Dr. Brandes fixed my severe adult cripple hypospadias condition. Due to the complex nature of the stricture, the optimal procedure was a 2-stage buccal graft urethroplasty. Dr. Brandes does speak quickly, and acts in a hurry, and he is an unassuming and warm individual. Do not be misled by his demeanor, this guy is super smart, cares, and is incredibly talented at what he does. He took an unstructured situation and reconstructed to perfection, in both function and form. He saved my life.

Dr. Brandes fixed my adult cripple hypospadias condition. Meaning I had reconstructive surgery to repair hypospadias as a child (5 procedures, one each year for 5 before the age of 10), but in my forties severe strictures developed on the shallow end of the urethra requiring reconstruction. Due to the complex nature of the stricture, the optimal procedure was a 2-stage buccal graft urethroplasty. I did my homework, and ultimately I had the privilege of meeting a rising star in the field of urethral reconstructive surgery, Dr. Han @ North Shore (impressive dude). But … because I wanted a second opinion, I was referred to Dr. Brandes at Columbia. Dr. Brandes recommended the exact same procedure, confirming my research and the 1st qualified opinion. Yes, Dr. Brandes speaks quickly, he had a food stain on his medical apron the first time I met him and he is an unassuming and warm individual (best I know him as a patient). Yes, he speaks over you and it’s sometimes difficult to get your thoughts out. But don’t be misled by his demeanor, this guy is super smart and incredibly talented at what he does, if you are looking for an extraordinary surgeon you found him, if you are looking for a therapist, this is not his specialty. My every encounter with him was encouraging (yes, slightly too casual), but I banked on his experience to come up with novel ways to repair my urethra – that’s what I was there for. I had faith in the good doctor and things turned up very well for me. And it’s not only him as a star surgeon, it is his awesome team: Dr. Benson (I’m going miss this guy), the tall dude with the funky operating glasses during the 1st procedure (I want those things!), the awesome nurse practitioner, Mrs. L. Ruffo, who has proven extraordinary in her response time, knowledge, and bandwidth, to finally, Annette, who is the team’s executive assistant and surely, one of the busiest people there. This is a cohesive medical team who cares – a big deal these days… If you are an adult “cripple hypospadias” sufferer, you should see this doctor. He taught me this term, “cripple hypospadias”, but he also cured it. We are all lucky that people like this exist.

I have a lot of health issues and have been seen by alot of doctors as a result. But I've never been treated as poorly as I was by Brandes. The arrogance and complete lack of empathy was alarming. He spent very little time with me during my initial consult and slipped away before I had a chance to ask all of my questions. When I made issue of this, we was aggressive and condescending. Upon receiving my medical records from him, I noticed that his assessment was, in part false, and unprofessional

Highly recommended, compassionate and brilliant doc

Dr. Brandes performed a psoas hitch surgery on me in 2012. I have had numerous major surgeries comma radiation, and chemotherapy as a child. I only have my left kidney, and had a ureteral blockage due to scar tissue. Dr. Brandes saved my kidney, and return me during normal kidney function with no medications needed. I would recommend him to anyone who has a complicated kidney procedure needing to be done. He is a first class surgeon in my book!

Did a great job with my Urolume.

Agree with previous review. RUDE is the word that comes to mind.

This doctor was obviously in a hurry. I was barely greeted, no handshake. He flew through my medical history sheet and did not even read all my prior surgeries. He asked questions very hurriedly and would barely let me get a sentence out before he would cut me off. He talked extremely fast and was very impatient. I had a few different concerns I wanted to discuss and he would give me a very brief answer for each and then ask "What next?" in a "hurry up would you" tone. He made me feel like a huge inconvenience. I have had 9 surgeries in my life, been hospitalized several times and seen several specialists throughout my life. I have never been more unimpressed with a doctor!