Peter Dirksmeier

Dr. Dirksmeier is an excellent spine surgeon. At my first office visit, I was impressed with his confidence and no nonsense approach that he would be able to help me, and that he did. Dr. D impressed me with his knowledge of my overall health and underlying issues, he did his research. prior to first appointment and during treatment. He has a large staff at the Spine Center (Theresa, PA Doran and PA Pelletier) and they all very sharp, helpful and kind.They kept me comfortable before, during and after my stenosis/sciatica surgery. Best of all, NO Sciatica. Thanks Dr. Dirksmeier. V/r Frank B

I had shared my need for back surgery with a friend who experienced the same back problem and had surgery by Dr. Dirksmeier with excellent results. She told me, "You'll be all set with Dr. Dirksmeier, he'll fix you." She was right. He repaired the problem with my pinched nerve. Dr. Dirksmeier is kind, patient, knowledgeable and a good listener. I felt that he really cared about me and my problem. He explained things very clearly and took the time that I needed. I'd recommend him to anyone who is searching for a good, competent back surgeon.

Dr. Dirksmeier and his team performed a microdiscectomy on me at L5S1 for relieving my unbearable leg pain. Surgery was a great success. 5 weeks post surgery I am recovering very well and leg pain is gone. I would highly recommend this Doctor and his team. PAC Jason Doran was excellent is explaining my symptoms and anatomy. Teresa was also excellent on the administrative end. A skilled surgeon of this caliber is simply a blessing from above. 5 solid stars.

I can't thank him enough. I was in so much pain, couldn't stand up straight and now since the surgery I have had no pain at all even the day after also now I stand upright. Thank You so much.

I fell, broke my femur, ended up in the ER. I was given a "partial hip replacement" without any consultation around the indications of doing this and the choices of doing a Partial OR Full hip replacement. As a result of this Partial Hip Replacement, I am not anywhere near my normal level of functioning. I'm in chronic and often acute pain due to the metal ball irritating my native socket. I was never asked about my life style, level of functioning nor given an opportunity to talk about which procedure to do: a full hip replacement or a partial hip replacement. If I had been given this privilege and "right" then I would have certainly been sure to only have a full hip replacement and NOT a partial hip replacement, which often has poor results with having a full recovery and being back to base line functioning. Without a choice, I had a partial hip replacement done and after my own medical research, and seeking second and third opinions, I have been told that: THE… ONLY medical reason to do a partial hip replacement is if the patient is very elderly, has dementia or cognitive demise, or suffering with parkinson's disease and if the elderly person is not very active. Other main reasons for a surgeon to perform a partial hip replacement is that it requires less surgery time, is less expensive, less skill is required and less surgical dissection is done, and there is less blood loss in the surgery. So, I ask Dr. Dirksmeier: Why did you choose to perform a partial hip replacement on me when I do not fall into that category? Why didn't you talk with me and ask me about my life, abilities, and level of functioning? Why wasn't I consulted in this medical decision? Why wasn't any family member consulted with my being presented? Did you have the skill or time to consult with me and my family and/or to perform the proper full hip replacement on me? I am 73 yrs. old, and have been in great health, and have been extremely physically very active in caring for my property, gardens, house, barn, animals, and the trials in my many acres of land and continuing to be employed in a profession I've loved. Now I am unable to function at work without incredible pain and have to drastically cut back or eliminate all of my usual activities in life. I cannot sit or walk without terrible pain. I limp, hobble and my balance is terrible. My leg is at least 1/4" longer. It is painful to get in and out of my car, and even sitting while driving is painful. I'm unable to do stairs correctly, perform tasks around house or in my yard. I can't take care of my gardens anymore in the summer, do fall clean up or shovel my steps and walkway as I use to do in the winter, because I am too unsteady, my leg is weak and prone to tripping. I no longer bike ride, dance, show shoe, hike and many other activities. I am unable to attend regular social or professional events due to pain, weakness and being generally unsafe in my ability to walk or sit. The only remedy left now, in order to achieve even a close to normal level of functioning and eliminate the chronic and acute pain, is to have a full hip replacement. Of course this then requires, another hospitalization, undergo a major surgery, be unemployed once again, and go through another period of recovery with all of the precautions. The impact on my body, my life and spirits is overwhelming. I was told that these medical problems often occur after a partial hip replacement in about 20% of all those patients who do have a partial hip replacement, and, "too bad, you are one of those 20%"! If only Dr. Dirksmeier had been respectful to me as an individual human being and not seen as some object he made up in his mind. Would he had made that medical decision to do a partial hip replacement on a beloved family member whose level of functioning and medical history reflects, mine? I think not! If he didn't have time or interest in giving the very best medical care possible, then he should have not treated me. I hope this doesn't happen to any other physically active, mentally stable, and high functioning 73 year old.

He is one of the finest surgeons I have encountered, and I am more than satisfied with the results of my surgery. I wold highly recommend him to anyone contemplating spinal surgery.

I went to Dr. Dirksmier with severe leg pains. An MRI had shown that I have bad degeneration of all of the discs in my lumbar area. Dr. Dirksmier performed a triple laminectomy on L1-L3-&L4 to remove bone spurs that were pressing on my spinal column. I experienced immediate relief from the leg pain and a really rapid recovery from the surgery. THANK YOU SO MUCH Dr Dirksmier...

Knowledgeable, skilled, compassionate. I was confident in Dr Dirksmeier from the start after hearing the passion in his voice and his reasoning. He takes the time to listen and explain, he is committed to relieving chronic pain, he cares about your life forward.

Husband went in for back surgery and got an infection. Plenty of things have gone wrong with the hospital staff, but even more concerning with Seacoast Orthopedics "team" and communication. First, when it became clear on Christmas day that ,my husband had an infection (that was missed by the doctors and at home nursing visits), he could not get someone at Seacoast Orthopedics. What they had told us to do is to go to the emergency room previously. So I rushed my husband to the emergency room in town (another fiasco BTW). He was released that night still with the same symptoms and misdiagnosis of the problem. Then we waited until Monday to finally get in touch with Seacoast. There we got a PA who informed us they were way busy with a 60 person backlog and needed to get to an appointment and to just go to Wentworth Douglass emergency room as they were "too busy to book us in". Robert spent six or seven days there as they attempted to get the infection under control (septic staff---which… will take six to eight weeks of the correct antibiotics). None of the partners can at Seacoast Orthopedics feel fully qualified to go into Dirkshmier's area near the spine (and although they talk about getting another back surgeon they do not). Instead, they send Robert back home without an appointment set up for Dirksmeier because he is still in places unknown, to wait upon the return to make an appointment. The infectious disease dr they put on the case and is hired by them, basically went into Robert's room and demeaned him for asking what the plan was. He didn't ask for a guarantee of anything but Dr Hodges said this infection was not "too bad" (six to eight weeks of intravenous every eight hours), and when Robert asked a question about medical things having to do his condition she would say "what do you want to know about that?" instead of answering or explaining (which Geppard seemed quite able to do later). So the only reason that Dr Hodges needed to go into my husband's room (besides not answering his questions and making him already anxious when he was sick) was, in my opinion, to get billed for her (non) consultation with him. This all started on Christmas, it is now 1/4/2016 and one day after being released, it is looking like Robert is going back into the hospital with a fever. We nor our primary physician who is trying to help us deal with this, have gotten no support for the situation we are in today (and again) from Seacoast Orthopedics despite there initial assurances that they are going to "get it right this time". Dr Dirksmeier has a 3.3 rating on health grades. Before you pick out a doctor or hospital, there is one site that I have found that can give you some insights. These all apparently come from survey's of which only 35-37% of patients fill out. So just use it as a tool, but if I had found this before my husband's surgery, I would have wanted someone else to be handling his case. BTW Dr Hodges (the infectious disease dor they hired for Robert's case, has one of the lowest of infectious disease drs in the area of a 3 star, and it showed. healthgrades dot com is a website where you can get other patients takes (via survey) on drs and hospitalls.

After three years of proactive alternatives, Dr. D. replaced my hip. His skill, compassion, encouragement, patience, and suggestions for the best outcome surgically, including rehab and recovery, all resulted in a life changing experience for me. I would not hesitate for a moment to both recommend Dr. Dirksmeier as well as schedule another consultation.