Dr. Elliot Ryan Carlisle, MD

I was in terrible pain. Dr. Carlisle performed spinal fusion surgery on my L5S1 and my L4L5, and now I am pain free! His bedside manner was excellent. He is very caring and kind. Am very fortunate to have him to perform my back surgeries.

Threatened to leave and refuse treatment, simply because I complained about the lack of care that I had recieved in the past. Dr. Carisle is the worst doctor that I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. He is rude, incompetent, unavailable, and lacks any form of bedside manner. After he was assigned as my physician, he only showed up one time during a week long hospital stay.

Our experience with Dr. Carlisle was very, very positive. I went in with my husband for his chronic neck pain and Dr. Carlisle took his time to show us the MRI results on his computer screen, what everything meant, the pros and cons of possible procedures, etc. We asked many questions and he was patient and courteous with us never making us feel hurried. Before we left, he encouraged us to contact him as many times as we needed with questions/concerns, come back to see him if we wished and to get a second opinion. We were very impressed!

My overall experience after I had Dr. Carlisle perform a spinal fusion surgery on my neck in 2007 was basically horrible, and it left me with comedic disfigurement. Prior to the surgery, I requested that the Dr. take the upmost care before cutting into my neck, since I was very concerned about the aesthetic appearance of a frontal scar. Dr. Carlisle promised me an inconspicuous surgical scar that would vanish within a crease in my neck. Unfortunately, that type of incision was not the end result.For 9 months following the surgery, I wore a Band-Aid over the incision cite because I couldnt bear to look at the sloppy, awkward, careless looking scar. Then there are the people I have met, who had the same exact operation, yet their surgical incision cite really is invisible. I have not met anyone who was left disfigured from their neck surgery the way I was. The people that did notice my scar would cautiously ask me what happened; I had to assure them that I was not the victim of foul… play. I have had multiple operations before including one on my upper neck that I forgot about; and none of them healed nor were cut like the noticeable, uneven white scar Dr. Carlisle permanently etched into my neck.There is no excuse to justify Dr. Carlisles incision. It was warped and cut in-between two creases, I wondered if he closed his eyes before he cut.Technically, the surgery was a success, but Dr. Carlisles bedside manner has a lot to be desired. At first, the doctor wouldnt let me see the incision and he made me wear an obsolete neck brace that left me with a 2 bald spot on the back of my head, it took 6 months to grow back. It cost me 6,000 dollars for comedic surgery to repair the damage this Doctor did to me. I would have tried suing him in a small claims court, but since my surgery he relocated to San Jose and it would have been an even bigger hassle for me. I will never completely erase the ghastly signature of Dr. Carlisle from my neck and I literally had to pay a high price for putting my faith in him, caveat emptor.

Dr. Carlisle looks good on paper (Baylor, UCLA, valedictorian, etc) and he presents confidence in himself as a professional (which is reassuring), but I found him to be unfriendly, arrogant, defensive, and without bedside manner. In person he always asks if you have any questions (which is great), but if you ask more than two, he acts put out, appears impatient, and starts looking away. Over email his answers to questions were OK, but he did not respond to all of my questions. Scheduling at his current office (Kaiser) was a very upsetting experience (cancellation after cancellation on their end).I also spoke to another patient who met with him. Dr. Carlisle told the gentleman he couldn't help him with his pain and structural back problems, but this same gentleman saw one of his colleagues, Dr. Matan, and was found to be treatable and underwent surgery. This patient also shared my displeasure with his bedside manner.I wish I could comment on his medical/technical competence with… confidence but I cannot. I tried to get an honest opinion from a nurse or CNA about him, but they stayed professional and said "he's good." He scribbled the surgery pen on my incision spot very quickly and imprecisely, but perhaps that's because he is very good and my procedure was quite simple (but is it ever appropriate to be casual when it comes to back surgery?). He probably is a good technician, but the human interaction was greatly lacking in compassion, listening, friendliness, and top-notch professionalism. I would not recommend him to others.