Robert M Pettis, MD MSPH

Highly recommend him. One of the best doctors I’ve seen in a long time.

Not enough words to describe how great this doctor is, not only in his practice but as a caring human being. It’s been two months since I’ve had a balloon sinuplasty operation and I can happily say that it has improved my life greatly. Before this I constantly had congestion to the point where there were days I felt dizzy and unbalanced from sinus blockage. Now I can breathe easier, sleep better and feel good getting up each day.
I felt really comfortable in each visit as the doctor took the time to explain and answer all of my questions. As others have stated the doctor is very down to earth and compassionate. I don’t think the doctor tries to stick to a time schedule as he sincerely wants to help and takes the time with each person. I can’t thank the doctor enough for improving my quality of life and I write this with hope the same can happen for others.

Very disappointed. I had a surgery done with Dr. Pettis a couple years ago and it was great. I wanted to come in to get some ear wax removed and my experience with his office was terrible. It took over a week to find out if my insurance was covered, which it wasn’t. I finally got a call back after numerous calls were not returned and they refused to send me an invoice for the procedure so that I could get reimbursed. They didn’t seem very knowledgable and were not friendly. I’m shocked that they were not willing to work with me to address the situation.

What a wonderful Dr and a nice human being! Dr Pettis is in Irvine by Hoag Hospital. We came up from San Juan Capistrano to see a good ENT and Dr Pettis was excellent. Dr Pettis put my teenager at comfort right away and was very down to earth. He explained what he was going to do and how things work, in simple English. The Dr answered all of our questions and did what he needed to do with quick yet gentle precision. We were in and out in 25 minutes but we’re not rushed at all. His office staff are nice, efficient and processed our paperwork quickly. I highly recommend Dr Pettis. You will not be disappointed.

He is one of the best ENT’s you can find. I’ve had great difficulty finding a good ENT since changing insurance. He unfortunately doesn’t take my individual Blue Shield Ultimate PPO. That is very disappointing because he is so good. I saw him for various issues over a couple of years and he was always very thorough. I highly recommend him. I only wish I could still see him.

Dr. Pettis and his staff in his Irvine location were the most kind and easy going folks I have ever experienced. I came in as a first time patient and was greeted by friendly staff to help sign up with the usual onboarding. When I met Dr. Pettis, he was so thoughtful, caring, and compassionate in his approach. He addressed my 3 primary issues and spent the necessary time with me to explain every part of the process thoroughly. I have seen my share of physicians and he was truly one of if not the best I have experienced. I write reviews as I see things, both good and not so good as the situation merits and Dr. Pettis and his staff were outstanding.

I have seen many of orange county’s top ENT’s for over a year for what seems to be an un-​diagnosable condition. Finally I arrived on Dr. Pettis’ door! Dr. Pettis was not only kind and thorough but knowledgeable and he conducted basic exams that somehow escaped previous analysis at multiple doctors offices and over a year of visits!!! I was so grateful for his insight, steady hand and analytical approach when I walked through his door with a 4 inch thick stack of medical history. I would highly recommend Dr. Pettis on his bedside manner alone– He hasn’t cracked my case yet– but if anyone can — my money is on this guy.

I personally can’t say enough for Dr. Pettis and his staff. Dr. Pettis sinus plastic and balloon plastic on 7÷2÷15. When I was 20 my insurance approved for sinus surgery, but I decided to not «roll the dice» with the prevailing rotor-​rooter butchery (20 yrs ago) followed by a packed nose for weeks and just endured it for decades. My general practitioner (Dr. Danny Vo) referred me to Dr. Pettis who diagnosed my deviated septum (an «S» septum), chronic sinusitis and clogged Maxillary sinuses. Three days before my surgery, Dr. Pettis went out of his way to meet me at his office well before normal hours to accommodate me and do another pre-​op appointment. He concluded the decades of inflammation created calcium over the openings and oversized aspect of my Inferior Turbinates. The procedure was more invasive but I could not be happier. Recovery was great: no nose packing, woke up breathing better than I ever have. He put stints in the opening to my Maxillaries and could not be happier. My wife’s worked in the medical field at hospitals and trauma centers for 19 years and is really impressed with Dr. Pettis, his staff and Hoag Irvine. It will be 3 weeks tomorrow and I breath like never before in my life. Anyone suffering from sinus issue should definitely visit him and Get this procedure.

Dr. Pettis goes above and beyond for all his patients. He has helped me tremendously and I am so grateful for his care. His entire staff is professional and so friendly. I cannot even express how much my health has improved since Dr. Pettis started to treat me. By far the best care I’ve received from any Dr. Highly recomemnd!

Totally lie, never received a phone call. She admitted to me that she never called and only sent one notice… her words! Not surprising from these liars. Now all of a sudden there were multiple bills sent and phone calls.

Where to start. Dr. Pettis had recently opened his practice after his residency. I was at my Internist next door and the PA who inappropriately attempted to remove wax from my ear forced water into my right ear and broke my ear drum! My internist physically escorted me next door to Dr. Pettis who immediately saw me and confirmed that my ear drum had been breached. This was in 2006.
Having had previous Deviated septum surgery and a chronic pain patient, I began seeing Dr. Pettis regular for constant sinus infections, and general ill health. He became my point person for analysis and research on a rare «Burning Mouth Syndrome» directing my care to some of the most highly recognized neurologists in the state including UCLA staff Doctors.
He Diagnosed me with a serious case of esophageal erosion 3 years ago and now I am back to a healthy esophagi.
I previously had allergy testing at the Drs office confirming among other things severe s to black mold and aspergllis. After the skin test, I took advantage of the more recent «blood allergy» testing and found that now as a 70 year old woman, my allergies are so severe to so many foods, herbs, and spices that I, for the first time in my life, know the source of the majority of my lifelong ill health, but the source to lead to the cure. FOOD!
This review does not begin to cover how much I respect Dr Pettis as a healer, and a human being. After a recent second cervical spinal surgery (that he was no a party to,) he phoned me every night after surgery for 5 nights in a row to make sure my throat was healing from the impact of being intubated.
I could go on, but I hope you get it. He is one in a million! Guess it was a blessing in 2006 the idiot PA (he was fired) in the next office busted my ear drum!

Went here for the PicoSure laser for a partial tattoo removal
I have had two sessions of four that I purchased from Dr. Pettis’s office and I must say I am impressed with my results so far.
I met with the doctor for a consultation and he was very honest with me about what to expect from the procedure, gave me an awesome deal on the price, and he made me feel safe with my decision.
Now for the treatments, I bought four treatments and am currently through two of them. The results have been incredible! I know that is has a good part to do with the fact that is the newer laser which works better than the Q-​switched lasers people have been experiencing.
After the first session I noticed an immediate difference (within 12 hours) and by the time I was ready to go in for my second one it was about 65% removed. I had the second session 6 weeks after and I am about 4 weeks from that now. The tattoo is around 75%
The laser uses ultra-​short pulses to break up the ink into dust like particles thatare more readily absorbed and flushed out by the body.
The process is numbed and then intense cold air is blown onto the skin while they use the laser to reduce the feeling. I honestly didn’t feel much and it was over so quickly, I have read that people think it hurts as much as getting a tattoo and I can say NOT AT ALL. I barely felt it
It will be white and crusty looking but they put a bandage on it that you wear till you get home. About an hour after the treatment the white crusty coloring has gone down or disappeared and the treated area is red and stays red for about three days, then that slowly fades away along with the tattoo itself. I have two other treatments and am excited to see the ending result.
I would recommend this to anyone who is trying to modify or remove a tattoo.

I left work early to go to my appointment. I’m driving there and they call 15 min before my scheduled appointment to say Dr is not in because she is home sick. They didn’t know that this morning? Not a good way to treat a first time patient who has been waiting a week to get in.

Best doctor EVER!!! My son and I are his patients and we absolutely love Dr Pettis. He’s attentive and listens to everything you say. I would recommend him to anyone that needs an ENT anytime. His staff is nice — but i have to admit, sometimes it’s hard to get through to them and receiving phone calls back. However, the care we get from Dr Pettis exceeds that and i am willing to overlook that.

I totally didn’t think people like this doc existed. My word of advice: this is it, he’s the real deal and then some. Dr. Pettis is willing to come to the table and work in concert with other Physicians for patient specific healthcare needs. It is a world of managed healthcare that reimburses pittance to Physicians for their time. There are no longer special perks offered to Physicians by IPAs, which means Physicians have to be in it to win it because they are invested and they care. And the office staff– ya, they are all that as well. Dear God, thank you… and this time I really, really mean it.

Treated me in er. Never followed up

I visited Dr. Pettis as a third opinion — just an insurance formality– but he was very caring, compassionate and knowledgeable. I ended up using him as my surgeon. I can’t speak highly enough of him!

Dr. Pettis is simply the best doctor I’ve been to. He is intelligent, compassionate, easy to talk to and understand, and never makes you feel rushed during your appointment.
I had a septoplasty and turbinate reduction with him that improved my trouble breathing. This was after a previous septoplasty and turbinate reduction which did not provide as much lasting help and made my second surgery a little more difficult.
The real differentiator between Dr. Pettis and other physicians is that he really, genuinely cares for the outcome of his patients. Deeply knowledgeable in his field, he never suggests any treatment or procedure for any motivation other than providing the best outcome.
If there is a downside to seeing Dr. Pettis, it’s that occasionally his appointments will be late and you might have to wait a while. However, the reason for this is that he was likely spending extra time with the patients previous to you. Should you happen to be that patient that requires extra care or even just reassurance, you’ll be more than willing to wait just a little extra to see such an extraordinary doctor.

Dr Pettis made a significant difference in my ability to breathe with his septoplasty procedure. For years I have not been able to breathe properly through my nose due to several deviations in my septum. November of 2013, I underwent the procedure and was shocked at the results right out of the operating room! I could breathe 100% better. Also, he did not stuff my nose with packing post procedure. It took about 3 weeks for my nose to heal completely and the post surgery care was not difficult. Today, I can breathe so much better, I feel more rested after I sleep at night, and I have not had any sinusitis or sinus infections. I had them regularly in the past.
If you have ENT issues, make the time and have Dr Pettis evaluate your condition. His feedback is honest, professional, and friendly.

I give 5 STARS to Dr. Pettis, M.D. He is an excellent surgeon. He did remove a big cyst behind my ears and he did a wonderful job. I can’t express enough how grateful I am. I will definitely recommend my family members and friends to Dr. Pettis, M.D.
Dr. Pettis, if you care about your office, would you please getting better staffs. I give ONE STAR to your staffs. They are un-​organized, un-​professional. They don’t know anything about insurance and how to read patients’ benefits at all. I do know my benefits when I come to your office but your staffs who had no ideas about it. When I got different quote from your staffs then I called my insurance right there at your office and then your staffs became un-​organized and gave me confused-​answers. They did not want to spend time to verify it.
I was surprised how compassion and excellent surgeon like Dr. Pettis who has terrible staffs. They don’t work together like a professional team at all. Definitely, Dr. Pettis needs better staffs who support and understand their team leader, Dr. Pettis, who is an excellent surgeon.

This was my husbands experience with Dr. Pettis office.
I wish I’d received the 5 star service I was hoping for after my office visit in March of 2013. My initial consultation with Dr. Pettis was great. He seemed to care, was thorough and even apologized for having me wait a bit.
My problem with my relationship with Dr. Pettis began when my phone calls to his office went un-​returned. I left at least two messages (perhaps three) on his office voice mail and did not get a response. I finally reached someone in Dr Pettis office to see if my films and reports had been sent to Dr Petts office. I was informed my films and reports had not arrived. After contacting my previous lab and was assured by the lab my reports and films had been sent (they had the date the reports and films were sent), I was once again assured the reports and films would be sent again. After contacting Dr. Pettis office again to see if reports and films arrived, I was flabbergasted to learn Dr. Pettis office had in their possession the reports needed and not the film. I then asked Dr Pettis office to take an active role in obtaining the information from the lab and was assured this would take place. I asked to be called when Dr Pettis office received said films and was not contacted again on the matter.
As a reader of this review you may ask «how do you know it was Dr. Pettis error in not acquiring the films?» I do not know. What I do know is that I lived in a previous city for 29 years and my wife, son and I have all used this lab. Yet, we never had this problem. I also know that communication with Dr. Pettis office was very poor. The tonality of my original contact person and her kindness was magnificent, however her follow-​up were was very poor. I could only assume that the error was on their end and decided to move on to another office.
A couple of months went by and I receive a call from Dr. Pettis office asking for $ 500.00 to pay my past due bill. I wasn’t even aware that I had a bill being that I had paid my co-​pay. I was surprised that I was receiving a call from an office that could not return a call regarding my care but, could return a call looking for money. Frustrated (my tonality should have been better) I told Dr. Pettis office I would call them back. Upon calling Dr. Pettis office I reached the billing person. (I had asked to speak to office manager) I received no apology, no explanation, no questions regarding my health in fact, the office manager had the gall to tell me I am supposed to know if my insurance would cover the two procedures I received in Dr Pettis office. Imagine, as a lay person, we are supposed to know just what procedures our insurance does and does not cover on the spot. As if I was supposed to know this information at the drop of a hat just minutes before Dr Pettis performed said procedures on me. As well, the billing lady’s tonality was once again very nice. I think she has no idea how insulting her canned response is to someone who is genuinely disappointing with service they have received.
My next step was to talk with the office manager. She actually did seem to have compassion with me and apologized. She was unable or unwilling to provide any relief. She explained the office would be unable to forgive a portion of my debt as this act would constitute insurance fraud She did say «patients only pay a co-​pay at an MD’s office because MD’s don’t do anything, they just listen to your heart and lungs» The office manager didn’t seem to understand that’s how I felt about my visit with Dr. Pettis. He looked at my sinus.
As for now, I’m unsatisfied with this doctor and I don’t want to pay for services I cant use. I cant have him operate on me as I have lost trust in him through his office staff. I new going in to his office I needed a second sinus surgery, I was going to see him hoping he was going to be my surgeon. I did not request the procedures and certainly was not told how much they cost. If I was aware of the cost I would have declined one of them, as both procedures did the same thing.
All this comes to one question to all readers of this review. What rights as patients do we have to expect to reasonably be satisfied with our service and shouldn’t we expect to know how much a procedure, office visit or any other medical service is going to cost us. Is there another industry that gets away with providing services with out disclosing the cost?
To friends of Dr. Pettis, please forward this to him. I think he deserves to know about this.

Dr. Pettis and his staff are as good as it gets. They are competent, courteous and caring. Dr. Pettis will spend as much time with you as it takes to assess and address your needs. I used to get chronic sinus infections (1 per month). Since working with Dr. Pettis and staff, I have had one in the past year… and getting better! I’ve never had a better experience with a doctor. I highly recommend Dr. Pettis and staff to all my friends and family!

Absolutely amazing this Doctor! My wife had a total Thyroidectomy and removal of a cancer there as well. Right after the surgery he came and explained why it took an extra hour.
Dr Pettis’ customer service and follow up is absolutely awesome! Following 2 mornings he followed up with visits to my wife in the hospital. Called me on the 3^rd day for phone follow up. Returned my wife’s call on the 4^th day within an hour. Signed my AFLAC claims form and filled out Physician Statement within an hour! This Doctor really cares and his customer service follow up is nothing short of incredible! I am glad we had him for the complicated surgery as well! 5 + Stars!!!

Dr. Pettis is absolutely amazing! First off… how we came to find Dr. Pettis. We had an appointment with a very well known group in Mission Viejo. After waiting two and a half weeks for an appointment, there was a «mix up» in the appointment time and they wouldn’t see us wanting us to reschedule another week out… Come back to their office with two small children! Five doctors in the office, their scheduling mistake and they wouldn’t see my son. The front office was no help and very curt insisting this was not their mistake and I just have to come back. From the carport I called our Pediatrician and she gave us Dr. Pettis’ number and I am so glad she did! He was booked — however, opened his doors an hour early for us just so we could be seen. THIS IS WHO HE IS… an extremely professional and caring doctor, you feel it the moment you meet him. He is so knowledgeable and explains every aspect of his diagnosis, also the process during and after surgery. So basically you leave his office fully equipt with all the information you need to proceed with your next steps. His front staff are exceptional as well. Not only are they extremely helpful but they are just as kind and follow up on every detail without missing a beat. My son is doing very well only three days after surgery. Stop looking for an ENT, go see Dr. Pettis.

I am so impressed with Dr. Pettis and his staff. I found him through… wait for it… none other than Unilocal :) Feeling very grateful, because after experiencing my first ever bout of vertigo for the last three weeks, which is an incredibly unpleasant experience, I went to see Dr. Pettis early this week (I was able to get an appointment within a week of calling). The assistants and nurses in the office were very friendly and professional and made me feel comfortable. They took the time to make sure they understood the reason I had come in, and entered it in the computer for the doctor to review. When Dr. Pettis came in, he also listened to me explain my symptoms, and asked all the right questions. He definitely has a good bedside manner that put me at ease.
He took me into another room to do some testing to find out the possible source of the vertigo. With one test, he ruled out a particular cause. Then he did what is called the Epley Maneuver, which in a nutshell induces the vertigo and flushes out the crystallized particle in my ear that was causing the vertigo… it was a bizarre procedure, but he made me feel safe and he is clearly very competent at his job! he explained the whole thing to me in terms I could understand, and I have had NO vertigo since leaving his office! That’s what I call a successful trip to the doctor! Apparently I had benign positional vertigo, and he was able to hit the nail on the head. I am truly grateful for his service, and would definitely return here if I ever need an ENT!