Santa Cruz/Bay Area Shoulder Specialist/Surgeon

Tore my rotator cuff a few years ago and was told I would never be completely without pain without surgery. The past few years I've gotten back to full strength but have always lived with pain and recently I fell in a similar way to how I initially tore it and it feels similar to when I first started PT. I think it's finally time to bite the bullet and get surgery. I'm looking for recommendations on a shoulder specialist in the bay area. I live in Santa Cruz so it would be nice if they were closer to that area. I also am open to hearing takes on stem cell treatment vs surgery. Thanks!

This guy did some good work on me:

https://stanfordhealthcare.org/doctors/s/marc-safran.html

https://stanfordhealthcare.org/doctors/f/gary-fanton.html#appointments

Gary Fanton at that same department is one of the best there is. 

As to stem cell vs surgery, it’s not like they just make a little stitch to fix a tear when they go in there. There’s typically a lot of debris in there they clean up and the often do a little bone shaving to create more space. If I have time later, I’ll post the post-op report from my 2 surgeries (1 on each side) so you can see what kinds of stuff they actually find when they go in there. It doesn’t all show up on the MRI. 

Sarah, dug this out for you.  This is the kind of stuff that they will do for you for a "rotator cuff tear" diagnosis on MRI.  Good luck.  Both my shoulders are great, first surgery around 30 years ago, the one below 12 years ago.