I can not say enough good things about Dr. Fine and the staff at Northwestern Specialist in Plastic Surgery. The process was easy to navigate with the assistance of Kendall the practice manager. Dr. Fine was kind, so nice and confident. The day of the surgery he reviewed exactly what he was going to do and the outcomes and was very reassuring. He was right. The outcomes were right on target. I highly recommend NSPS without hesitation.
Jacqui Shine
-
September 11, 2025
EDIT: After having a successful revision with one of his Northwestern colleagues, I am pretty sure that what happened here is that Dr. Fine does not know how, or does not care, to do flat closures. I wish he had just said this instead of getting angry at me. If this is what you are seeking, he is likely not the surgeon for you.
I have been through 3 years of treatments for 2 different cancers, and this was the single most humiliating and unpleasant encounter I’ve had with a physician in that time.
Dr. Fine receives rave reviews for his care, compassion, attention, and kindness with breast cancer patients. I’m sure it’s all true, but I did not meet that person. It’s perfectly possible to deliver disappointing news to someone in a kind way, and I’m sure he has that skill. He just chose not to use it, instead leaving me crying in an exam room where he left without looking at me or even saying “goodbye,” though the medical student working with him did, once it was obvious he was not going to acknowledge me. By the end of the encounter, he was petulant and contemptuous, and nothing I said or did in the twenty minutes we spent together justified it. I am posting a review because he is part of a private physicians practice group and the hospital’s patient representative process cannot be used here.
I came for a second opinion appointment for potential revision of scarring after mastectomy with flat closure at another hospital. Dr. Fine knew I was unhappy with the result and felt I had been treated poorly, and this made him angry for reasons I cannot understand. He made a point to tell me, in an increasingly loud voice, that it was a “GOOD RESULT” and he “couldn’t have done better and wouldn’t try,” which I simply don’t believe, not just because one of the surgeons on my original case said it was a poor result himself, but because other surgeons have agreed. Dr. Fine insinuated that a rather simple removal of “redundant tissue” would not work because I am fat. To prove this point, he showed me images of a patient—except they were photos of a patient who had a *completely different procedure* than I had had and was inquiring about, and they showed no physical features in alignment with what he was saying. He did not address in any way one of my chief concerns, even though I stated it very clearly multiple times—he simply did not respond to it.
He and his PA seemed to think I did not “respect” them—both repeated that they’ve been “doing this a long time.” That’s true! But I am the breast cancer patient living with scarring I don’t like, and only I have knowledge of how I was treated by other doctors and what they said to me—expertise they do not have.
It was hard not to feel that they were not interested in my case because it wasn’t a fancy flap surgery or a cosmetic surgery they could bill full freight for. Dr. Fine and Lexy did not like me or the way I check (or don’t check) their boxes for what women are supposed to want for our bodies.
“I’m sorry you’re disappointed,” “I know this is hard to hear,” “I wish we could help you,” “I don’t agree with what your other doctors have told you,” “I see you’re upset”—any one of these really very anodyne phrases would have made this a better encounter for me. It was instead the most humiliating I have endured in 3 years of cancer diagnosis and treatment. I did nothing to deserve it.
Molly K
-
June 19, 2025
Dr. Fine and his team — Lexy and Caroline — are truly exceptional. I can’t say enough about the care, compassion, and talent they brought to my breast reconstruction journey. After a difficult start elsewhere, finding this team completely changed everything for me.
Dr. Fine is not only incredibly skilled, but also kind, patient, and thoughtful. He approaches his work with an artistic eye and made me feel confident and truly cared for. Lexy, his PA, is amazing — they work so seamlessly together and always made me feel like I was in the best hands. Their dynamic is so genuine, like father and daughter, and their care felt incredibly personal.
Caroline was a bright light at every visit — reassuring, compassionate, and effortlessly stylish (I always looked forward to seeing her outfits!).
Even when I had a question outside normal hours — which I never want to do — both Lexy and Caroline responded right away and were so kind about it. Their attentiveness and support go above and beyond.
I feel incredibly lucky to have been cared for by this team. They didn’t just help restore my body — they helped restore my confidence and peace of mind. I will be forever grateful.
Virginia Hill
-
March 10, 2025
I visited Dr Fine and his team after a failed breast reconstruction after being treated for cancer with mastectomy, chemo and radiation. From the first visit, there were noticeable differences between my prior surgeon and him. He and his team are empathetic and make their patients feel at ease and cared for. At each visit, he and his team have spent a lot of time with me. The visits never feel rushed. At my first visit, he looked at my infected reconstructed breast with an exposed implant and calmly explained what was necessary to fix it. He then explained the procedure he thought would be helpful and showed me before and after pictures of patients who had undergone the suggested surgery. The end result was gorgeous, by the way, in all of these pictures---even in post radiation patients. In this visit alone, he spent more time with me than my prior surgeon had spent with me over multiple visits. He answered all my very detailed questions. In my first visit with my prior surgeon, before my mastectomy, my husband and I were left alone in an exam room for about an hour with a saline-filled implant and silicone-filled implant on the counter to look at. The surgeon I went to before spent about 20 minutes with me in that visit and did not go into detail. The choices presented to me were implant reconstruction with saline- or silicone-filled implants or an abdominal flap procedure that takes 2-4 months to recover from. I am very career-oriented and don't have 2 months to take off of work. Dr Fine, on the other hand, gave me the option of a latissimus dorsi flap with a significantly shorter recovery time, lower complication rate, and better aesthetic result. He gives you his honest opinion based on 30 years of experience. He tells you the hard truths: such as that 50% of implant reconstructions fail after radiation therapy. I wish I would have known that before I started on this journey because I would have made very different choices. The icing on the cake was when he took out the infected implant in his office, which makes a woman feel really terrible and ugly and scared, and his very kind PA told me I have beautiful eyes. Wow. What a caring team.
Virginia Hill
-
July 25, 2025
I am going through my second reconstruction after treatment for breast cancer. Dr Neil Fine is an amazingly patient, kind, and extremely skilled plastic surgeon. I am in the second phase of my reconstruction and just had tissue expanders placed 2 weeks ago. These temporary tissue expanders look better than my prior final reconstruction. Dr Fine somehow managed to place the expanders in such a way that I no longer have a chest depression (from mastectomy) above the implant. The appearance is pleasing and natural. The whole plastic surgery team and the Spa aestheticians are amazing. Lexy, Monica, Caroline, Barb, Morgan and everyone are super nice, knowledgeable, efficient and helpful. The Dream Team! I can't say enough about how wonderful Dr Fine and his team are.
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I can not say enough good things about Dr. Fine and the staff at Northwestern Specialist in Plastic Surgery. The process was easy to navigate with the assistance of Kendall the practice manager. Dr. Fine was kind, so nice and confident. The day of the surgery he reviewed exactly what he was going to do and the outcomes and was very reassuring. He was right. The outcomes were right on target. I highly recommend NSPS without hesitation.
EDIT: After having a successful revision with one of his Northwestern colleagues, I am pretty sure that what happened here is that Dr. Fine does not know how, or does not care, to do flat closures. I wish he had just said this instead of getting angry at me. If this is what you are seeking, he is likely not the surgeon for you. I have been through 3 years of treatments for 2 different cancers, and this was the single most humiliating and unpleasant encounter I’ve had with a physician in that time. Dr. Fine receives rave reviews for his care, compassion, attention, and kindness with breast cancer patients. I’m sure it’s all true, but I did not meet that person. It’s perfectly possible to deliver disappointing news to someone in a kind way, and I’m sure he has that skill. He just chose not to use it, instead leaving me crying in an exam room where he left without looking at me or even saying “goodbye,” though the medical student working with him did, once it was obvious he was not going to acknowledge me. By the end of the encounter, he was petulant and contemptuous, and nothing I said or did in the twenty minutes we spent together justified it. I am posting a review because he is part of a private physicians practice group and the hospital’s patient representative process cannot be used here. I came for a second opinion appointment for potential revision of scarring after mastectomy with flat closure at another hospital. Dr. Fine knew I was unhappy with the result and felt I had been treated poorly, and this made him angry for reasons I cannot understand. He made a point to tell me, in an increasingly loud voice, that it was a “GOOD RESULT” and he “couldn’t have done better and wouldn’t try,” which I simply don’t believe, not just because one of the surgeons on my original case said it was a poor result himself, but because other surgeons have agreed. Dr. Fine insinuated that a rather simple removal of “redundant tissue” would not work because I am fat. To prove this point, he showed me images of a patient—except they were photos of a patient who had a *completely different procedure* than I had had and was inquiring about, and they showed no physical features in alignment with what he was saying. He did not address in any way one of my chief concerns, even though I stated it very clearly multiple times—he simply did not respond to it. He and his PA seemed to think I did not “respect” them—both repeated that they’ve been “doing this a long time.” That’s true! But I am the breast cancer patient living with scarring I don’t like, and only I have knowledge of how I was treated by other doctors and what they said to me—expertise they do not have. It was hard not to feel that they were not interested in my case because it wasn’t a fancy flap surgery or a cosmetic surgery they could bill full freight for. Dr. Fine and Lexy did not like me or the way I check (or don’t check) their boxes for what women are supposed to want for our bodies. “I’m sorry you’re disappointed,” “I know this is hard to hear,” “I wish we could help you,” “I don’t agree with what your other doctors have told you,” “I see you’re upset”—any one of these really very anodyne phrases would have made this a better encounter for me. It was instead the most humiliating I have endured in 3 years of cancer diagnosis and treatment. I did nothing to deserve it.
Dr. Fine and his team — Lexy and Caroline — are truly exceptional. I can’t say enough about the care, compassion, and talent they brought to my breast reconstruction journey. After a difficult start elsewhere, finding this team completely changed everything for me. Dr. Fine is not only incredibly skilled, but also kind, patient, and thoughtful. He approaches his work with an artistic eye and made me feel confident and truly cared for. Lexy, his PA, is amazing — they work so seamlessly together and always made me feel like I was in the best hands. Their dynamic is so genuine, like father and daughter, and their care felt incredibly personal. Caroline was a bright light at every visit — reassuring, compassionate, and effortlessly stylish (I always looked forward to seeing her outfits!). Even when I had a question outside normal hours — which I never want to do — both Lexy and Caroline responded right away and were so kind about it. Their attentiveness and support go above and beyond. I feel incredibly lucky to have been cared for by this team. They didn’t just help restore my body — they helped restore my confidence and peace of mind. I will be forever grateful.
I visited Dr Fine and his team after a failed breast reconstruction after being treated for cancer with mastectomy, chemo and radiation. From the first visit, there were noticeable differences between my prior surgeon and him. He and his team are empathetic and make their patients feel at ease and cared for. At each visit, he and his team have spent a lot of time with me. The visits never feel rushed. At my first visit, he looked at my infected reconstructed breast with an exposed implant and calmly explained what was necessary to fix it. He then explained the procedure he thought would be helpful and showed me before and after pictures of patients who had undergone the suggested surgery. The end result was gorgeous, by the way, in all of these pictures---even in post radiation patients. In this visit alone, he spent more time with me than my prior surgeon had spent with me over multiple visits. He answered all my very detailed questions. In my first visit with my prior surgeon, before my mastectomy, my husband and I were left alone in an exam room for about an hour with a saline-filled implant and silicone-filled implant on the counter to look at. The surgeon I went to before spent about 20 minutes with me in that visit and did not go into detail. The choices presented to me were implant reconstruction with saline- or silicone-filled implants or an abdominal flap procedure that takes 2-4 months to recover from. I am very career-oriented and don't have 2 months to take off of work. Dr Fine, on the other hand, gave me the option of a latissimus dorsi flap with a significantly shorter recovery time, lower complication rate, and better aesthetic result. He gives you his honest opinion based on 30 years of experience. He tells you the hard truths: such as that 50% of implant reconstructions fail after radiation therapy. I wish I would have known that before I started on this journey because I would have made very different choices. The icing on the cake was when he took out the infected implant in his office, which makes a woman feel really terrible and ugly and scared, and his very kind PA told me I have beautiful eyes. Wow. What a caring team.
I am going through my second reconstruction after treatment for breast cancer. Dr Neil Fine is an amazingly patient, kind, and extremely skilled plastic surgeon. I am in the second phase of my reconstruction and just had tissue expanders placed 2 weeks ago. These temporary tissue expanders look better than my prior final reconstruction. Dr Fine somehow managed to place the expanders in such a way that I no longer have a chest depression (from mastectomy) above the implant. The appearance is pleasing and natural. The whole plastic surgery team and the Spa aestheticians are amazing. Lexy, Monica, Caroline, Barb, Morgan and everyone are super nice, knowledgeable, efficient and helpful. The Dream Team! I can't say enough about how wonderful Dr Fine and his team are.