Dr. Gelman is THE authority when it comes to treatment for urethral strictures. I unfortunately had to go through the pain and agony associated with having a structure that was blocking my urine. After doing my research, I visited Dr. Gelmans office, and it was the best thing that I ever did. I just wish I found him earlier rather than wasting time with local providers. Dr. Gelman is an amazing surgeon and his staff is absolutely incredible and they treat all patients with great amount of dignity. I had my urethroplasty in November 2023 and I have a new lease on life. Thanks to Dr. Gelman. do not waste your time elsewhere if you have a urethral structure call Dr. Gelman ASAP.

Submitted April 18, 2024

I had a urethroplasty done with Dr. Gelman and his expertise with the condition is unmatched by any others. He was also very passionate about helping me as he even called me on a Saturday morning to discuss my issues. His assistant Denise is also very knowledgable about the procedure and does a great job with scheduling as it does not take months just to get an appointment. Overall, an extremely efficient group of people that are professional and caring.

Submitted Feb. 22, 2024

I am a physician and had a recurrent urethral stricture unable to be managed by repeat DVIU. I sought out a top urologist with an expertise in urethroplasty surgery. I was extremely impressed by Dr. Gelman right from the start. I was across the country at the time of having a suprapubic catheter, and I had multiple phone calls with him to discuss my case, imaging, and best timing for surgery. There was absolutely no delay in scheduling a consult and OR date on a Friday and Saturday to accommodate my coming in from out of state. At the time of meeting in person, I found Dr. Gelman’s bedside manner to be outstanding and attention to detail to be similarly phenomenal. The surgery itself was ~5 hours and recovery with a two catheters for 3 weeks went as expected. I was tube free with excellent function right on schedule, and had no evidence of recurrence at my 4 month follow up appointment. I am extremely satisfied with the outcome and hope anyone in my situation is similarly able to have surgery with Dr. Gelman. Of note, his surgical coordinator Denise was similarly thorough, kind, and a pleasure to work with as well.

Submitted Feb. 28, 2023

I had urethroplasty done by Dr. Gelman in April of 2022. I've since healed well and the surgery has been a success!

I've seen a lot of urologists for treatment of urethral stricture, and Dr. Gelman is far and away the best. His knowledge, experience, and technical skill with treating urethral stricture is incredible.

The actual experience of undergoing treatment and surgery with Dr. Gelman was overall much less painful and uncomfortable than I had expected it to be, and I have no doubt that Dr. Gelman's technical skill and respect for his patients' well-being played a large part in this experience.

Denise, who works in Dr. Gelman's office, was informative and hugely helpful with scheduling appointments as well as any other questions I had a long the way.

A big thank you to Dr. Gelman!

Submitted Sept. 8, 2022

I had a urethral stricture since I was 14 as a result of an impact on the top-tube of a bicycle. For exactly 50-years I’d had a number of urethrotomy’s with both scalpel and lazar; I managed through self-dilation during those intervening (approximately 5-years) periods.

Through a lark I decided to change doctors to get a urologist closer to home. The new doctor referred me to Dr. Gelman. As it turns out, Dr. Gelman’s office is very close to where I live and he’s been doing urethral reconstruction since 1998 – and that’s all he does.

Dr. Gelman went out of his way to describe the two procedure options and the likely outcome for each. He also did a good job setting up expectations and time-tables. The procedure went very well – in fact I had my 64th birthday the day after the procedure – and I am now fully recovered. I can urinate without restriction and without any kind of urethral “management”.

Dr. Gelman is out-of-network, but it was worth every penny! What can I say? Dr. Gelman is thorough. And let me once again emphasize – urethral reconstruction is all he does! People come to see him from across the country – and from around the world.

Submitted April 8, 2022

I felt it was fate that brought Dr. Gelman into my family's life. Of course, like any other parent, I wanted a doctor with the most experience and the highest success rate to be my son's surgeon. My son had a urethral stricture which happened to be unprecedented. It was longer, extremely narrow, and its location in the urethra would make for an even more difficult surgery.
I had explained my son's condition and had asked my urologist during a visit who he would recommend to do the surgery. He left the room and came back with Dr. Gelman’s business card and said he was the absolute best. A few weeks later I asked my hairstylist how her husband was recovering from oral surgery. She replied, “So much better than when he had his urethral surgery.” Well, I was taken aback since I had been doing my research for a reconstructive urologist. As you can guess I asked numerous questions to gain as much knowledge and details I could about her husband's experience. To make a long story short, her husband and my son both realized they had strictures at around age 14, even though looking back there were probably signs much earlier. Her husband had surgery locally and did not obtain the desired outcome. Therefore he needed a redo surgery. For his second surgery, he obtained Dr. Gelman. She explained and compared the two surgery experiences. It was like night and day. From the hospital experience, surgery outcome, graft healing time, etc. They highly recommended Dr. Gelman as his urethroplasty with a graft was an excellent success.
With recommendations and research to back me up, I launched into a campaign to have Dr. Gelman do my son’s surgery. Denise, Dr. Gelman’s secretary was a huge help, reviewing my options and giving me tips, since my insurance company was out-of-network. The amount of time that Denise and I spent on the phone going over all the different scenarios was extremely time consuming and she went above and beyond to answer my questions, reach out to me and assist me in any way needed. Consumer Medical also assisted and, after more than 6 months, it was approved!
Dr. Gelman spent numerous hours speaking with me on the phone and studying all my sons' health charts just to prepare for our first visit. He was not getting paid for his time and did it out of the goodness of his heart and dedication to his profession and to helping others. As mentioned earlier, it was difficult getting approval for Dr. Gelman to do the surgery and he was instrumental in making that happen. After reviewing the charts and previous treatments my son has undergone for years due to his stricture, Dr. Gelman wrote a very long appeal letter to my insurance company outlining my son’s previous treatments and explaining that none of it would resolve the problem. He also spoke directly with my insurance company. He basically explained that it saves the insurance company money if the problem is fixed correctly the first time. The patient is happy and healthier and therefore needs less treatment, procedures, appointments, etc.
Due to my son's very narrow stricture, he had an uncomfortable burning each time during urination. After surgery and when everything was removed, he was able to urinate free from any burning and with such a powerful stream like never before.
Words cannot express how grateful my family is to Dr. Gelman and his team at UC Irvine Douglas Hospital, as well as his excellent assistant/secretary Denise. My son has recovered and is doing well. If you need urethral reconstruction I would feel extremely confident in recommending Dr. Gelman. Get it done right the first time. This has been life-changing for my son and we are so fortunate to have had these events line up to bring Dr. Gelman into our lives.

Submitted July 18, 2020

My urethal stricture was 1.7 cm starting very close to the prostate going forward. I have been afflicted with slow, painful urination most of my life and at 56 year old on Feb 04, 2020 urine completely stopped. This was the first time in my life nothing came out so I immediately called the urologist at UCI and DR. GELMAN explained very thoroughly my problem. The surgery was performed on Feb 26, 2020 and I have to admit some discomfort after surgery which subsides after about a week. Bottom line Dr. Gelman is incredible, my urination has never worked this good, matter of fact I still catch myself preparing for urination pain and there none just a nice strong stream. Thank You Dr. Gelman and God Bless

Submitted April 21, 2020

I totally disagree with the negative comment below. I came to dr.gelman all the way from Vancouver, Canada and my experience was extraordinary. Even though I did not experience a surgery with him, his verbal advice as well as phone consultation were immensely helpful. Not a lot of busy specialists offer free phone and email consultation. He does that because he genuinely cares about patients' well-being. I'm an active member on forums and I referred lots of members to dr.gelman and all of them are over the moon. highly recommended.

Submitted Nov. 30, 2019

I had a prostatectomy at Johns Hopkins. After 6 weeks I had a bladder neck contracture and it recurred not less than 8 times. Doctors at Hopkins were no help in resolving. That is when I saw Dr. Gelman who was brilliant in his treatment and surgical procedure. It worked - no more stricture after more than two years of Hopkins docs trying to resolve! This literally changed the quality of my life

Importantly, Dr Gelman was compassionate and understanding of what I had been through. I appreciated his bedside manner, his clarity in explaining what to expect and his diligence.

His staff was very helpful, efficient and courteous to me.

Submitted July 11, 2019

Dr Gelman fixed my stricture after 45 years of brutal ER visits and one failed plastic surgery. Dr Gelman has a good bedside manner and instilled confidence in me regarding his ability to fix my issue. His technique to quilt a patch to enlarge the structure area is genius and worked well. It has been 10 months since surgery and I am glad to have this fixed. It was well worth having to travel from Wisconsin to California and pay out of pocket to have this fixed (as insurance didn’t cover everything) to employ his expertise. D who can P

Submitted March 25, 2019