William H. Dillin, MD

Dr. Dillin
I called your office in August on the recommendation of Dr. Shin. I was in need of cervical spine surgery. Whoever answered the phone was confused on why I was calling your office. She was so rude that I decided to researched another excellent doctor, Dr. David E. Rogers. I’m so happy that I went with him.

What can I say about a doctor who strolls in at 1pm for a 10:30 a.m. appointment, when one is in pain. If I could give him no stars, that would be too much. Avoid this doctor PERIOD! His staff is not friendly, rude and they have no regard for one’s time. After waiting for three hours, he spends not even ten minutes with me. I walked out disgusted!!!

Dr. Dillin is the best spine surgeon I know of. In 2000, I was in grad school at UCLA and the head doctor at their spine clinic said I would be in a back brace for six months after surgery. I would have to drop out of grad school! I searched long and hard for a better answer, including internationally, and chose to go with Dr. Dillin. He is not only top notch and innovative, but offered me an extremely reasonable cash price because UCLA student insurance would not cover his less invasive technique. He saved my life. How can I say it any better? Thank-​you Dr. Dillin! I could walk and move again. Outpatient surgery and I was back to school and work fast!
A friend of mine who had the traditional surgery somewhere else (NY) had a horrible, painful recovery, and is still in pain (as I hear most are). Conversely, another friend’s father took my advice, and went to Dr. Dillin even though his insurance did not cover it. He paid a few thousand dollars for a successful spine surgery, instead of a botched one that leaves you in pain. Dr. Dillin works «smart» and does the most modern, minimally invasive, quickest recovering surgery possible. Thank-​you, thank-​you, how can I say thanks enough for getting my life back? I strongly recommend Dr. Dillin if you are considering spine surgery.

I first saw Dr. Dillin in early 2006. I had been to two other orthopedists for back and hip problems. The first one told me I had tendonitits, and the second one identified my problem as a herniated disc but said I needed surgery. I did research and found Dr. Dillin. He was really helpful and understood exactly what was going on with me. I did have a herniated disc but didn’t need surgery. He told me I’d need regular PT for a few months, and he was right. After a few months of PT I felt really good.
This past summer, 2009, my back flared up again. Dr. Dillin sent me for updated MRIs and explained that I must have herniated the disc some more. Again he told me surgery was too extreme for my case, and sent me back to PT for a few months, which helped a great deal.
He has always been patient and helpful, and really takes the time to listen to my situation and explain it to me. You will wait about an hour to see him (or more if he’s backed up or had a late start after performing surgery). That’s the reason I’m giving him 4 stars instead of 5.
I know that when I finally do see him, he’ll take his time to explain everything to me and will pick the treatment option that is best for my particular case. I was really pleased when I first met him that he didn’t want to jump in and do surgery, but wanted to find the right treatment for my needs.

This review is for Dr. William Dillin, spine specialist, at Kerlan-​Jobe.
Dr. Dillin is one of the top spine specialists in the country, if not the world. He has been doing spine surgeries for 25+ years. He does extensive research, writes papers and chapters for text books, and frequently talks at conferences. He is also the spine doctor for local sports teams (Lakers, Ducks, Dodgers, etc.).
I have had lower back problems for over a decade. No accident, I just blame it on an active childhood. I was told years ago when I lived in another state that someday I would need back surgery. I held out, just went to a lot of physical therapy when my back would flare up.
Finally, almost three years ago, the back went out and never went back in. I knew it was time but I had not seen a spine specialist since moving to California. I did a ton of research and saw multiple spine doctors, getting opinion after opinion.
I was able to get that initial appointment with Dr. Dillin fairly easily. Not sure if he had a random opening or not, but I was in less than a week from my first call.
My appointment was for the afternoon and I will never forget that appointment. I waited in the exam room for about 45 minutes before Dr. Dillin came in to see my, look at my MRIs, hear my story. I was in pain, couldn’t stand straight, and kind of perturbed it took him awhile to get to me. But then I realized why. He sat down and then spent the next 45 minutes with me, walking me through my MRIs, patiently listening to me, answering my questions, providing a lot of background and information. I walked out of the appointment knowing that Dr. Dillin would be doing my surgery. I did have another opinion appt. to keep a few days after that with another orthopaedic surgeon, but I walked out of that appointment calling Dr. Dilling to schedule my surgery, which ended up being slated for Halloween.
Overall the surgery went well but I was never feeling great. I was seeing Dr. Dillin every 8 weeks or so while being in PT 2 – 3 times a week. The short of the long was that I ended up re-​herniating by back so that I ended up pretty much blowing out my entire disc. 15 months after the first surgery I was going back in for surgery #2.
Once I had another round of MRIs, I consulted again with Dr. Dillin. He took one look at the MRIs and you could see the wheels turning in his head while he paced the room and thought. Basically what was happening wasn’t rare but it wasn’t common. He told me to go home and think about it. A couple of days later I called his office looking to speak with him to answer some of my questions (I know I was going back into surgery but had a few questions before I said Yes) and his nurse said he was traveling to a conference and recommended I email him since he checks in the evenings. I sent him an email with my detailed questions and at about 8:30 at night I received a phone call from him wanting to answer live. that really made me feel good. I called to schedule my surgery the next day and I was going in for a natural fusion. What I had done was something that only an experienced doctor who pretty much has seen it all would be able to make a call on.
SO…here I am, 14 months from the last surgery and feeling great. Reintroducing sports activity into my lifestyle, seeing and doing things that a year to year and a half ago I couldn’t do. I see Dr. Dillin once every 3 months for a checkup. I like to bounce activities off of him as he is a proponent of having physical activity at some level for well-​being. He always spends time with me answering my questions. And he remembers the minutest details I’ve told him that is amazing that detail and with all of the patients he has.
Dr. Dillin has a great bedside manner, comes first thing in the mornings as followup when you’re in the hospital. He also has set times with 3 of the local hospitals for surgeries. The other doctors and nurses at the hospital had nothing but great things to say about Dr. Dillin (and about the Laker that he operated on the week before me).
Yes, you may have to wait when you’re in for appointments (try to get early or right after lunch) but you’ll know that you’re getting top notch treatment. Dr. Dillin is a conservative doctor and won’t operate for the sake of operating. He will try alternative methods with you before operating — PT, anti-​inflammatories, epidural blockers. Some people may think he’s drawing it out but, hey, that’s what insurance is for. Since it IS your back and spine (you kind of need it and really can’t replace the whole thing), you might as well treat it right.
Dr. Dillin also has an office in Anaheim.
PS — get your general practitioner or someone to refer you to get MRIs done before seeing Dr. Dillin. Otherwise he’ll just send you for some and then you’ll need to go back.