YOU FIND A MYSTERIOUS MASS AND THINK: IS IT CANCER? DOCTORS TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEADLY LUMPS AND NORMAL BUMPS.

Soft Under-The-Skin Bumps: "I first noticed the lump on my forearm while showering," says Theresa, 35, a personal trainer from L.A. "It was rubbery and about the size of a half dollar. I panicked and decided it was a rare type of cancer! By the time I got my doctor on the phone, I was practically hyperventilating."

Why You Shouldn't Freak: It's probably a harmless ball of fat known as a lipoma.

When To Dial Your Doctor: There's no rush, but be sure to mention it to your doctor during your next routine visit. If it appears in the breast or chest area, get it looked at sooner.

Why You, Who Now: Lipomas, which can be as small as a pearl or as large as an orange, tend to bubble up on the thighs, arms, neck, abdomen, shoulders and back. "They're extremely common and we don't have the vaguest idea why they form," says Dr. Richard Glogau, M.D., clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco. "Lipomas may be unsightly, but they're harmless."

SKIN AGES DUE TO INTERNAL FACTORS (genetics, the passing years) and external factors (your lifestyle, diet and skincare habits). Each type of aging leaves its particular mark on your skin. "Experts estimate that over 95% of aging changes in the skin are the result of lifestyle habits - and the biggest offender is sun exposure," says Richard Glogau, M.D., professor of dermatology at the University of California at San Francisco. "But you don't see sun damage right away. There is a 12 to 15 year lag from initial ultraviolet exposure - typically a sunburn - until the first visible signs of aging appear. This means that for a 35 year old woman, the only cumulative damage from UV exposure visible so far is what she got before or in her early twenties."

IN THIS DEFINITIVE LIST, WE PRESENT
THE BAY AREA'S BEST DOCTORS, AS CHOSEN BY
THE REAL EXPERTS - THEIR FELLOW PHYSICIANS.

THE DILEMMA IS SIMPLE: YOU OR ONE OF YOUR KIDS GETS SICK, SENDING you in search of a trustworthy doctor. At one time, you might have turned to a friend or family member for a referral, but in the bustling, transient Bay Area, those local connections have often been broken. Sure, you trust the produce guy at Whole Foods, but somehow that's not the same.

Doctors aren't in short supply - with 47 pages of M.D. listings in the San Francisco Pacific Bell Smart Yellow Pages alone, even a Ph.D. would feel like a dummy when trying to pick a name. And forget using one of those Internet referral services: Matt Drudge still represents the Web's voice of authority.

The best place to turn is these very pages. The following list of 425 local doctors and medical specialists was compiled by the professional pollsters at Woodward & White, who asked physicians a simple question: "If you or a loved one needed a doctor in your specialty and you couldn't treat them yourself, to whom would you refer them?"

The answers, based on follow-up interviews and weighted to account for a doctor's potential bias for a colleague in his or her hospital, result in the largest peer-review-based evaluation in the medical profession. Only San Francisco magazine features this definitive list. Of course, your HMO or PPO may limit which doctors you're allowed to see, but armed with those guidelines and this easy-to-use list, you're in the best position to get great care.

DERMATOLOGY
DR. Richard Glogau, MPH, UCSF-STAN

DR. RICHARD GLOGAU chosen in
TOWN & COUNTRY'S 1999 DIRECTORY
OF TOP COSMETIC SURGEONS IN THE U.S.

So, you're thinking about having cosmetic surgery. Now what? Among the many things to consider, the most important - and most difficult - is your choice of doctor. It's impossible to assemble a list of the "best" aesthetic surgeons across the country; there are simply too many subjective criteria. But we've compiled a list of the nation's top cosmetic surgeons, to be used as one resource among many. To start with, we zeroed in on certain cities where most of the cosmetic surgery is done and where many of our readers live. To assemble our very selective list, we interviewed noted surgeons, surveyed more than 2,000 surgeons nationwide for their recommendations, sought out media sources across the country, acquired membership information from surgeons' professional associations, and perused teaching - hospital faculty lists. We collected our names from many different sources, because each method on its own is insufficient. We wanted to guard against both the phenomenon of doctors simply nominating their frineds, and media sources choosing the physicians with the most skillful P.R. person or best sound bites. We assembled our list by checking board certifications, learning about the doctor's medical training and ascertaining whether or not the physician had a history of legal or disciplinary action against him. Having said this, we'd also like to recognize those doctors who took the high road, cooperated with integrity and thus helped us construct what we believe is the best of all possible lists. Thank you.