I have an appointment with Dr Luke Philippsen in Muncie, IN on October 7th, 2020 after being preliminarily diagnosed through dental panoramic xray and experiencing ES symptoms for over two and a half years (was initially misdiagnosed with reflux).
I’m wondering if anyone has had surgery done by Dr Philippsen and if so what technique did he use (through neck or intraoral/use of Davinci robot, etc?). Was it successful and what was your experience with this doctor please?
I have a call in to nurses to try to find out more before I see him but would really love to hear patient experiences.
If you he’s been discussed on the forum, search for his name and any relevant conversations will pop up. I just checked and he’s on the list for IN doctors, so hopefully someone has posted about him. Wishing you peace as you begin this journey! I’m 4 weeks post op of my left styloid removal and already seeing benefits.
Thank you very much Jules. At least the mention of him is positive. I’ll definitely let people know as I understand feedback about doctors is important for others.
I didn’t find this thread when I searched his name so this is still helpful. Thanks again.
We have one other member who hasn’t posted in a long time - Stargazer. I believe Dr. Philippsen did at least one of her ES surgeries or was somehow involved in her ES journey. You could send her a private message. I think she’d respond.
Hello. I have been to see Dr. Phillipsen too. So far my experience with him and his office staff has not been very good. There has been a lot of trouble communicating. I now have a follow up with Dr. Phillipsen on the 5th. I have wondered how you have gotten along with this group? Did you or are you having surgery? Have you had any problems with getting records from other doctors to Dr. Phillipsen?
My first visit was strange. The nurse who met with me before my doctor appointment told me Dr. Phillipsen is trying to get away from treating Eagles Syndrome patients. He didn’t say that but with all the complications getting records to him, I have to wonder
I also had an interesting experience with Dr Philippsen (Muncie, IN). I was told he will assess Eagle’s patients case by case to determine if he’ll treat them and they were almost not going to keep my appointment but I was told he’d see me as I was “already on the books”. I got the impression he’s trying to withdraw from this kind of surgery.
I did have my appointment face to face with him. He told me he only does this surgery through the mouth. I had already decided I wanted to go through the neck as more could be removed. I got the impression he only removed what he could (which I believe is not enough).
He told me he would refer me to one of his colleagues in Tennessee who goes through the neck but I never heard from that doctor and Dr Philippsen could not remember the doctor’s name.
I ended up traveling from IN to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to have my left side operated on through the neck by Dr Jason Newman at Penn Medicine two weeks ago. I’m so glad I went to him. He is a highly skilled skull based surgeon who is very familiar with difficult surgeries. Dr Newman left it up to me to decide whether I wanted to go through the neck or mouth but said if it was him having the surgery done he’d have it done through the neck (that helped me make my final decision).
Dr Newman removed my calcified ligament as close to the skull base as possible and removed 5 centimeters (2 inches) of ligament and smoothed the remaining part near my skull.
I know not everyone can travel for surgery but it is in such a delicate area of the body I wanted to go with someone I felt more comfortable with. At the time of my surgery he said he’d done about 75 Eagle surgeries which might not sound like a huge amount but he usually works in the cancer center so the bulk of his surgeries addresses other conditions.
I’m sorry for your experience w/ Dr. Phillipsen. Based on the information you & Bec have given us, I will take him off our doctors’ list. We want helpful & supportive doctors not doctors that leave our members wondering “what’s next?”
Bec has given some good advice, & we have several members who’ve been to Dr. Newman for ES surgery, & I believe all have had good outcomes. I hope you’re able to travel to one of the more reliable ES doctors on our list. We do feel the external surgery is safest & allows for the best overall outcomes because the styloid & stylohoid ligaments are more fully accessible & nerves & other soft tissues can be better monitored during surgery.
Please let us know what you decide & how we can support you along the way.
Thank you for your update. I’m so glad you found Dr. Newman to be an excellent surgeon. We’ve had good reports about him. I am sorry though that there was no one closer for you to see.
For what it’s worth, I had my ES surgeries done by Dr. Samji, & at the time, he’d only done about 75 ES surgeries. He’s done close to 500 now. When a surgeon is familiar w/ the “territory” where the styloids are from doing other types of surgery there, then ES surgery isn’t a great challenge. The most important part of ES surgery is having the styloids adequately shortened (to the skull base if possible) & the stylohyoid ligaments removed if they are at all calcified. It sounds like Dr. Newman took good care of you in both regards.
I agree completely with what you’re saying. I was more than happy to see an experienced skull based surgeon who had done as many as 75 ES surgeries. I’m extremely happy with Dr Newman and Pennsylvania Hospital. I was kept in ICU overnight after my surgery for monitoring due to operating so near the carotid artery, etc. I was very impressed with pretty much everything about the hospital treatment I received there.
I also agree it’s best to remove Dr Philippsen from the ES list of doctors. I told him he was on it and he seemed very surprised. Unfortunately people in Indiana will most likely have to travel further for treatment but this seems common anyway for a lot of areas.
Thank you Bec and Isaiah for your input. I am looking at a doctor Douglas Van Daele at the University of Iowa. Looking at his profile on the university’s website, Dr. Van Daele is certainly well qualified to perform surgery but there is no mention of Eagles syndrome in his specialties section. I am going to call tomorrow and see what information I can get. Fingers crossed.
Any skull-based surgeon i.e. ENT, Maxillofacial or Neurosurgeon should be able to do ES surgery because they are familiar w/ “the territory” where the styloids & stylohyoid ligaments “live”. That said, getting the styloids removed to the skull base & the stylohyoid ligaments removed if there is any calcification on them apart from the styloid is mandatory for a good long-term outcome. Many doctors think “snipping the tip” off the styloids will do the trick & some only remove them back to their normal length which has really helped some of our members. The best results we’ve seen though are when the styloids are fully removed. Another thing that happens is partially calcified stylohyoid ligaments are left in place instead of being removed w/ the styloids. That can continue to cause ES symptoms.
We do have at least one member who’s had ES surgery done by Dr. Van Daele. If you click on the magnifying glass icon above, & type his name in the search box, related posts will come up for you to read.
Here’s the link for it. You can find the link by clicking on the butterfly icon at the top of this page. That takes you to our home page. The link for the Doctors’ List is under the Symptoms and Treatments category (it’s a little gray bar underneath the heading - “Doctor Information”). You’ll need to scroll to the top of the page as there are a number of posts that follow the doctors’ list itself.
Hello! I know this is an older thread but I am here after about 8 years since my surgery on my right side (2017), I had previously before that had the left side surgery in 2014. I am now awaiting to be scheduled for another surgery on my right side. I have made a couple posts but no one seems to have seen them. I have come across this thread and would like to update my recent experience with that Dr. I tried getting a referral back to him as it had been so long since I’d seen him I needed one. First I was told he worked part time and might still possibly be able to see him for my issues again. Then I got the referral and called to make the appointment and was told he was basically retired and only did ER clinic time and the other ENTs in Muncie did not treat Eagles. So I had to get a referral for an ENT in Indianapolis.
My second surgery in 2017 with this Dr. was a bit disappointing… he did not remove any of my styloid, just said it fractured and went back down into my neck and believed my symptoms would be relieved. I even asked if I would have a problem in the future, he said no. But here I am waiting to be scheduled again for surgery for the right styloid, as it is again poking into my tonsil area and causing problems
@Redirish98 - First off, humble apologies that your posts were not responded to. I’m very sorry that happened. As I’ve looked back at some older posts, I’ve found others that suffered the same fate & have no explanation for why that happened.
I’m really sorry you’re facing another ES surgery & that the doctor you saw didn’t do the job you anticipated. What he did during your second surgery is just wrong! How could a doctor who knows anything about ES think that leaving a broken styloid in place would relieve symptoms?! We even had a member who posted that her surgeon broke the styloid from the outside & told her that ES was cured & sent her home. Some of these practices seem barbaric to me & demonstrate a distinct lack of medical professionalism.
We don’t currently have a doctor on our list for your state except this one who diagnoses ES: •Dr. Todd Wannemeuhler, 350 W Columbia St., Ste 200, Evansville, 812-425-2646, Deaconess - Todd_Wannemuehler_MD (Diagnoses ES but doesn’t do surgery. Did post op care for Robin7 so she wouldn’t have to travel the distance back to her surgeon, Dr. Tennant in KY)
Have you found another surgeon for your revisions surgery? If not, & you’re able to travel out of state, Dr. Cognetti in Philadelphia is very experienced & his patience get good outcomes consistently.
Here’s a link to our current Doctors List in case it is helpful:
Please let us know how we can support you as you wait to get another surgery date & who will be doing your surgery (if you don’t mind…we’re always looking for experienced ES surgeons to add to our list).
Thanks so much for getting back to me Isiah. You helped me so much back when I was here before for my other surgeries. I do have a new surgeon, I went to see him last week in Avon, Indiana, which is on the west side of Indianapolis, 2 hours away from me. He also works out of Carmel which is a bit closer and when they call to schedule he said just let them know I prefer to do it there. My boyfriend does not want to drive on the interstate he has no experience doing so, so I’m trying to make it easier for him to drive me home. The ENT is Dr David Campbell, he is young and only practiced a couple years but seems very knowledgeable about Eagles. There were other Drs in Indianapolis that will perform the surgeries, I was given a list actually, and they are at IU Health Indianapolis University Hospital.
