Since you have no vascular symptoms, Dr. Osborne would be the best doctor for you to see for surgery. Is he a provider for your medical insurance? If not, you’ll need to reconsider Dr. Samji due to the astronomical cost to have surgery w/ Dr. Osborne if paying out of pocket. Even with that, it would still be worthwhile getting an opinion from him.
Dr. Samji will tell you he removes the styloids close to the skull base, but my experience on this forum is that “skull base removal” has a different definition for each doctor. For some, it’s leaving styloid stubs that are .05-1.0 cm for others it can be 1.5-2 cm which is often not short enough to relieve symptoms. Dr. Samji cut my right styloid pretty short but not the left one. I did get resolution to some of the symptoms I was having which were caused by the IJV compression I didn’t know I had at the time. If you do end up having a consult w/ Dr. Samji, ask him what “cutting the styloids back to skull base” means to him i.e. how long are the stubs that are left?
Dr. Osborne cuts the styloids back very close to the skull base (i.e. the first measurements I mentioned) but my experience w/ Dr. Samji is that he leaves them a bit longer.
“Taking care of the IJV” simply means removing the sources of compression so the IJV(s) can re-open fully & allow the deoxygenated blood drain from your brain at the rate your internal carotid artery(ies) are bringing freshly oxygenated blood into your brain. Sometimes, just removing the pressure from the styloids is enough for the IJVs to re-open fully but other times the transverse process(es) of the C1 vertebra continue to compress the IJV even when the styloids have been removed. In those cases, the TPs of C1 need to be shaved a bit to provide more space for the IJVs.
All that said, we have had a number of members who had IJV compression & only had styloidectomies w/o anything being done to C1 & their outcomes were excellent. Since you don’t have any vascular symptoms, there’s a good chance that the styloidectomies alone would be enough to give you relief from your symptoms.
Initially, I think you’re on the right track i.e. get a consult with Dr. Osborne & possibly w/ Dr. Damrose, or possibly w/ Dr. Samji (I know I’m back paddling here). Getting two opinions is worthwhile.
Here’s a link to a great discussion written by @Jules regarding ES surgery that will be helpful for you. Closer to the end is a list of suggested questions to ask any doctor you interview about ES surgery. I will add that you should also ask for specifics about the doctor’s surgical approach & whether or not surgical clips are used during surgery & left in after surgery. Some doctors do use them & fail to mention it prior to or after surgery. I have one surgical clip on each side of my inner neck that Dr. Samji put in place & wasn’t aware of it for several years until they showed up on a scan I had for another issue. Thankfully they aren’t causing me any problems, however, we currently have 2 members who have surgical clips that were left in place & which are now causing pain. It can be very difficult to find a surgeon who will remove them when that happens.