Barry S. Handler, MD, FACS

Every time I leave from there I feel like a million bucks. I personally have had fillers, injectables, Botox, removal of lipomas, laser work, facial etc Barry Handler is just spectacular with knowledge, prestige skill and heart! My lips and face have never looked better!
Dr. Barry Handler also did my girlfriends implants and they look stellar! She is a show stopper! Can’t wait to get mine done again here!
Maintenance is important and he keeps you at your best! Love all the monthly specials they run, and the whole staff is just as wonderful there! My favorite place to be! And I’ve been to 3 other plastic surgeons before discovering Dr. Handler. He is well experienced, certified, expert for all your needs! Thank you for all your work.

Dr. Barry Handler won me because he treated me with old school kindness and patience, while using the best and newest surgical techniques. He considered my questions about surgical procedures carefully and didn’t flinch when I delved into his education and professional achievements. I sought the perfect combination for a surgeon: down to earth person with stellar artistic talent. Dr Handler is basically a good person blessed with an artistic eye, exceptional training, and a perfectionist bent to his personality! I love him – and the results of the recent surgery he did on my face. Significantly, at my request, he gave me contact info for previous patients (after seeking their permission) NEAR MY AGE who had similar elective surgery. That was very very helpful to me. I am so happy with my outcome that I recommended Dr. handler to my husband for the removal of an ordinary old cyst in an obvious location! He did a great job. No scars at all! I HIGHLY recommend Dr. handler and his office manager, Amy.

I had Dr. Handler completely redo a botched tummy tuck that was done on me almost 30 years ago. The results are absolutely stunning! The work is beautiful and I am off to the beach in a bikini for the first time in 30 years! My new belly button looks so natural, even my OBGYN had to do a double take. My husband is thrilled too. More importantly is the care that he and his staff gave me through the whole process. Most professional man ever!!!

If you’re having anything more complex done than a basic procedure (such as a mass removal), this is definitely not the man to go to. Handler does not know his own limits and will make a mess of you if you let him. I had the misfortune of being referred to this man by a very kind and talented reconstruction surgeon who was retiring. I had anticipated a few months of annoyance. Eight months later, I will need to see someone competent to have his work corrected.
Handler was one of the most unpleasant aspects of the whole breast cancer experience. He was, undeniably, the most unprofessional medical practitioner I had the misfortune of encountering in the year plus I dealt with this illness. He’s nothing but a meat mechanic, and IMHO should stick to the most basic of basic procedures. To anyone thinking about putting yourself in this man’s hands, remember that it’s your body and you will be stuck with whatever he does to you.
The only thing this man has going for him is his office staff. God only knows how they tolerate this twerp.
Addendum: In addition to being a hack, it appears that Handler doesn’t quite know how to run his business office. After dozens of exchanges involving hospitals, labs, pharmacies, and other physicians, this is the only practitioner whose claims my insurance company (a PPO) is having difficulty processing. Not one single other practitioner or facility has had a problem getting paid. Only Handler. Even more importantly, his «billing» office somehow believes that this is now my problem.
Bottom line, think twice before wasting your time, money, or flesh in his office. There are a lot of decent, competent, talented and professional healthcare providers in the SD area. Unfortunately, this is not one of them.

I am so grateful for Dr. Handler! He performed a surgery to remove a mass on a very sensitive area of my body and he did an amazing job! I was extremely nervous before the surgery but he put my mind at ease. I am a anxious person with a lot of questions and he always took the time to answer them thoroughly. I never felt rushed during my pre-​surgery appointments which has been the case with other doctors. Dr. Handler is precise, pays great attention to detail and just 8 weeks after my surgery, the scar is barely visible. I truly can’t thank him enough!

Dr. Handler and his Assistant Amy are a perfect team and I felt relieved they cared so much about my laser procedure yesterday. Dr. Handler really takes time to explain everything, from the science to the results.
I would recommend this physician and staff to anyone!

I had basal cell removed from my nose yesterday. He did a great job. He told me I might get black eyes from it but so far no black eyes. He did a nice job making me feel comfortable and calm as I was pretty nervous about being put under. I’m very pleased my nose is going to pretty much look the same as it did before with a little scar.

I only give him one star because I am not able to give him a 0. He may be good at face lifts or breast augmentation but he has NO IDEA what he is doing as far a reconstructive surgery is concerned. I needed scar tissue removed and he indicated at our first consultation that he had experience in doing so. Not so, he gave me more scar tissue than I went in with and I had to have corrective surgery, to his surgery, done by another plastic surgeon who actually knew about scar tissue, not breasts and faces. Had to miss more work, be out of commission and in pain again. He also prescribed pain medication that contained a content he knew (or should have known if my allergies had been written in my chart) I was allergic to. When my husband called to have the prescription changed, he prescribed THE EXACT SAME DRUG WITH A DIFFERENT NAME (unbeknownst to me as I don’t know the formularies of all the pain meds, I assume the doctor knows what he is doing in prescribing a drug). I ended up in the emergency room with anaphylaxis. Had they written down my allergies or paid attention to what they prescribed this could have been avoided. TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE!

I am a little less than a week out of breast revision, augmentation and lift done by Dr Handler. I do not have words to express how happy I am. Dr Handler not only has an incredible bedside manner (he has incredible communication skills) his work is perfection. I did my research and he has the experience and knowledge that surpassed others in his field. I will refer my family and friends to him. I highly recommend him. Thank you Dr Barry Handler!!! Dr Barry handler has been more than a gentleman his communication is fantastic and he is very willing to work with you on all aspects I highly recommend him once again he is willing to go the Second Mile

I recently required reconstructive surgery after getting into a serious car accident. Dr. Handler was and has been an incredible asset to my recovery. He is incredibly kind, thorough, and very professional. His staff is top notch as well. This has been a very difficult time for my family, but I have always been at ease with his care. I would highly recommend his services to anyone who needs reconstructive or cosmetic surgery. It is rare to find a doctor who is so accomplished, courteous, and skillful.

I went to Dr. Handler for a non-​cosmetic surgery and found him to be extremely professional. Dr. Handler is like the «old school» doctors who have time for their patients. His experience, care and follow up is excellent and should be highly regarded.

Nice — everything about the place is great — there was minimal wait time in the office. I only had a consult, (free), and Dr. Handler spent a lot of time with me, explaining the procedure that I was interested in (a «lift») thoroughly. He gave his honest opinion of whether it would give me the results I wanted (he said no, that I would need an additional procedure which sent the whole thing out of my price range.) Amazingly, Dr. Handler Knew that I would have had the first procedure: all he had to do was say that it would do what I wanted. He sacrificed «making a sale» in order to be honest. Top Notch Doctor.

A friend of mine… does a great job, very nice person… affordable

Just had another consultation with Dr. Handler for some «work». The man is BRILLIANT and his office staff are STELLAR! He truly gives his HONEST opinion and is very professional, yet friendly. I will continue to use his services and REFER anyone to him for cosmetic surgery.
Thanks Dr. Handler and staff!

I have been a patient of Dr. Handler’s since 2006 when I had my mastectomy. The surgeon that was removing my breast wanted Dr. Handler on board and I waited an extra month for him. I thank God every day that I did. Dr. Handler is one of the kindest, sincerest and knowledgeable doctors that I have ever met. He will patiently answer every single question that a frightened woman who is about to undergo this terrible surgery will ask. If he does a procedure and you are not happy with it, he will fix it without all that «I’m God’s gift to surgery» ego. The outcome from my numerous reconstructive surgeries has been amazing! I feel like a whole woman again because of him. I count my blessings every night that he is in my life. Thank you, Barry.

I had a consultation with Dr. Handler last year to go over my options for some body, ahem, work. Lets just say pregnancy wasn’t too kind to me and I wanted to handle some business. No, I was not looking to get circus tits, I leave that to the girls at Cheetah’s.
I explored my options and had consultations with a couple of surgeons, Dr. Handler was one of them. Despite the fact that in the end, I did not choose him to do the actual work, I was thoroughly impressed at how much time he gave me to discuss my procedure. A free consultation that was well over 60 minutes? Really? Is this guy for real? Yes. Yes. And Yes.
He really took the time to answer every picky, over analytical question I had and went above and beyond what I would have expected from a consultation. Not sure if his consults are still free but even if they aren’t, time is money these days and I cannot expect anyone to do nothing but give away their time. Most physicians do pro-​bono work as is. If you want a professional opinion, for a service YOU are soliciting, you should expect to pay for it. Good advice isn’t free.
I cannot vouch for his actual surgical work but based on what I saw in his portfolio and the way he conducts himself in his consultations, he is a very forthright physician that isn’t out to make a buck showing off with bells and whistles, or doing push-​ups in the OR like that moron Dr. Rey. He was thoroughly informative, nice and honest. I really appreciated that.

This surgeon is one down to earth, approachable and knowledgeable surgeon.
I’d grown to respect Dr. Handler from his often wise, kind and perceptive input on this website. I decided to go try him out for Botox. I kid you not… he freshened me up a good 10 – 15 years.
Botox administration can be a tricky deal. In the hands of someone who isn’t on the ball with their injecting it can be ineffective or even worse… it can cause facial drooping.
None of these worries with Dr. Handler. As a matter of fact, he did the best Botox work on me that I’ve yet had in San Diego.

I have been having services done with Dr. Barry Handler for about 3 years now. He is extremely professional, ethical and honest, and is an expert at his trade. I sent my Mom to him for a consult for a face lift. Again, his honest opinion was for her best interest, not for his financial gain. I currently get botox and laser every 3 months and am very pleased with my results. The laser has really improved my sun damaged skin, especially with the hyper-​pigmentation.