My teenage son was 16 when he found an odd little hole near his tail bone.  We were at the doctor that day and they informed us that he had a pilonidal cyst.  If you’re reading this review you know how deadly they can be and within four days he was in surgery.  

The ordeal that followed was brutal – we opted for leaving the wound open in order for it to heal from the inside out as the alternative can lead to recurrent cysts. The after care took about eight weeks and consisted of weekly painful re-opening of the wound with a scalpel and re-dressing it.  He was really disappointed that he missed over half his football season, but was happy to get in a few games at the end.  Once healed he also had the recommended laser hair removal from the area.

Fast forward one year, to the makeshift high school football season associated with Covid and he once again found a similar hole.  His surgeon took one look and was visibly frustrated and said that the best thing to do was to see Dr Sternberg in San Francisco.  While she didn’t elaborate, she knew that this was going to be a recurrent problem with my son.  So we trekked up to San Francisco and Dr Sternberg explained the Cleft Lift and had a packet full of the specific information, including graphic surgical photos.  Our insurance wouldn’t pay for it so It was a gamble, but this time it paid off!!  

Oddly enough the recovery time was about a week shorter than the original surgery.
I have waited over a year to leave this review.  I wanted to make sure that he did not have a recurrence.  While some of my interactions with the office were awkward, my son liked Dr. Sternberg and that was the priority.  

Bottom line – Dr. Sternberg is an ACE at this procedure that alleviates the ‘will I get another one’ ambiguity … learn from our mistake and do it right the first time!

— Sherri D.

Photo credit: AleXXw, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT, via Wikimedia Commons