Patient Reviews of University Foot and Ankle Institute

I don't know quite where to start. I think Dr. Baravarian runs a top notch practice. His clerical staff have always met or exceeded my expectations, and "no" I don't have low ones. They're very responsive. I have had the most interaction with his surgery planner. She is on it! I work for a large corporation that has it's own health and medical team as well as a third party that manages the time off/disability end. Both entities require a lot of initial documentation followed by progress documentation. I communicated that to the surgery planner who saw to it that all forms and documentation were sent to my employer along my journey with Dr. Bob, usually the next day, and she copied me on everything. I've never had to make second requests.Now on to Dr. Bob Baravarian. I have dealt with severe bunions, mid-foot pain, and small toe metatarsal pain for the past 5+ years and in both feet! I received treatment from a local podiatrist where I live prior to seeing Dr. Bob. Over the years I had a few steroid injections, custom inserts, and more new shoes than I can count. The bunions increased in deviation and the foot pain became severe. I put surgery off due to my father having failed foot surgeries resulting in non-fusion of joints in both feet, which caused him so much pain he could barely walk. I didn't want to be like that, so I chose to try and tough it out. I was frightened of foot surgery to the point of anxiety. I got to the point where my quality of life was severely affected. My local podiatrist recommended a few surgical procedures that I read up on but he seemed to ignore the mid foot pain issue claiming it was a nerve. I felt it wasn't and that put me on the path to find a good doctor for a second opinion.My general practitioner and I have a great relationship. He told me about Dr. Bob as his elderly mother suffered through two failed foot surgeries.  Dr. Bob fixed her issues and she is pain free and walking! Prior to scheduling an appointment with Dr. Bob I did the usual background check, medical board, education, publications, complaint inquiries, reviews, etc. I found Dr. Bob to be an excellent choice for a second opinion. I was able to get an immediate appointment and drove the 100+ miles to his Santa Monica office. I brought x-rays, told him about my pain, where I was experiencing it, prior treatment, and my local podiatrist's surgical recommendation. Knowing I lived 100+ miles away, he told me I needed a CT scan of the foot I was most concerned with and directed his staff to get an immediate approval so I didn't have to drive back. They delivered and I had a CT scan 30 minutes later at his office. The CT scan explained everything; severe bunion, degenerative 2nd and 3rd joints that were bone on bone and a tailor's bunion.I'll wrap this up. Dr. Bob performed corrective surgery on my foot in October 2022. He fixed the bunion, straightening my metatarsal and toe by fusing the metatarsal/tarsal joint using a "lapiplasty" procedure and hardware, fused my 2nd and third metatarsal/tarsal joints using hardware, and fixed the tailor's bunion with an amazing pin that turns to bone. That's a lot of bone work! Dr. Bob used a nerve block prior to surgery that kept my leg, from the knee down, numb for 48+ hours after surgery so there was NO pain. After my leg thawed out, that's what I called it, a couple days later there wasn't that much pain. I was non-weight bearing for eight weeks (six weeks cast and two weeks boot), then partial weight bearing with a boot for about two weeks with assistance. Then weight bearing as tolerated with assistance thereafter. I'm just shy of 4 months post op. I have some muscle strength in the foot, ankle, calf, and quad to regain but am well on the way to getting it back. I'm not a 100% pain free yet but have less than half the pain I used to have. I'm getting better everyday and my foot looks normal. I fully anticipate a full return to normal activities I haven't been able to do for the past 5+ years. I am going to have Dr. Bob perform the next surgery on the other foot in October of this year 2023. My surgery was pretty complex and a lot can go wrong if you don't have a doctor that knows what he is doing and does it regularly. I encourage anyone reading this to look at Dr. Bob's education, academia, publications, years in practice, and reviews. He knows what he is doing. He is a great doctor.

My appointment was at 7am and when I arrived (5 minutes earlier) the door was locked. At 7:10 the door opened and when I mentioned it to staff I was told the door was opened. I was recommended to Dr. Bob by a friend. He was very nice but told me he couldn’t help me. He did recommend the name of tennis shoes that might help me.

Dr. Franson is most responsive and willing to make himself available for consults even after hours in an emergency. He waited through his lunch hour for my late arrival to perform a brief procedure to alleviate some post surgery pain from a suture. Very grateful for that and the pain is gone!

Everyone was very polite, kind & helpful. Dr. Nalbandian did a great job. The surgery fixed my issue. As a result, I have no more pain & I will have little or no scar. I would definitely refer any family or friends that have foot issues to see Dr. Nalbandian.

Always very personable and friendly front desk and nurses. Dr Nalbandian really took the time to go over my MRI, treatment options, footwear suggestions, & gave great advice for physical therapy rehab.

Excellent visit, all of my questions were answered, time was taken to be sure I was comfortable with all of the answers, and a plan was developed to correct the problem. One suggestion - put new patient forms on your website or mail them in advance. Getting the paperwork done in advance would be much appreciated.