Proctologists
Archived Q&A and Reviews
Dr. Bitar
Re: Anal Fissure (Dec 2003)I had the same experience a year ago and went through terrible pain. After six month I pushed my primary care physician to get a referal for a specialist (Dr. Bitar, 2900 Telegraph Ave.; phone (510) 845 4638). He prescibed Nitroglycerin 0.01% what finally helped after several weeks.Dr. Bitars office is booked out in advance and will probably give you an appointment in about three weeks (the secretary is not very helpful), so you should ask your doctor to call and tell them that you need an appointment as soon as possible. After going that way I got an appointment two day later. Take as many warm baths as you can and try to relax.
November 2002
Re: Fistula
My husband had a fistula, and he was in so much pain he could neither eat, nor sleep. He said the fistula was far worse than either the proceedure, or the recovery time, and stopped taking his pain medication almost immediately after his surgery. He liked Dr. Bitar, and found him easy to talk to. Good luck! anon
I am writing in response to the woman who wrote looking for information about fistula and/or Dr. Bitar. I would like to share my experience of Dr. Bitar. My husband saw him for a hemmeroid and we felt that he didn't listen and made my husband feel bad for complaining of having pain. He said to us over and over that my husband had ''no pain tolerence''. He performed a routine surgery on my husband and after the surgery we were terrified to even call him and tell him that he was still experiencing pain. My husband ended up needing to go back into the emergency room 3 days later because there was infection and we never felt like Dr. Bitar listened to us or took us seriously. My husband felt he was being judged for being in pain.
I just had hemorrhoid surgery in Dr. Bitar's office this September. I thought he was great. His office set-up is a bit unusual, you have to ring a bell in the entry way so the person in the back knows you're there. What I liked the most was his interaction with me. He came and got me from the waiting room. He gave me the initial exam, not a nurse. When we talked, it was in his office (the one he really uses for doing deskwork). He was business-like, not chatty. I recall he moved a stack of papers so I could have a seat. The info sheet he provided was exactly on target. It did take three weeks for complete recovery. I wish all doctors interacted personally with their patients the way Dr. Bitar did with me. I felt like he valued the old-timey flavor of a respectful and private doctor-patient relationship.