David S. Gazzaniga, MD

Dr. Gazzaniga reviewed my MRI’s indicating gluteus tears. I could not walk. Instead of recommending surgery he monitored the healing and later successfully directed me to Core Performance for PT. I couldn’t be happier, no surgery needed.
Dr. Gazzaniga’ and his entire staff are friendly and professional. My heartfelt gratitude.

Dr. Gazzaniga initially helped me with a bursa hip injury 5 years ago so when I recently started having significant knee pain for the first time — I went to him again. He had me go through various procedures over time (shot/​x-​rays/​physical therapy) and my knee got better to a point but it still swelled up when I was working out and felt loose. It frustrated him as much as it did me why it wasn’t fully healing. He sent me to have an MRI which showed that my medial meniscus root had pulled out and needed surgery. I went through surgery (medial root repair, frayed edges and arthritis cleaned up) and started physical therapy 5 days later. I came out of surgery with zero pain! In fact, I only took 1 pain pill when I got home from it. There was no weight bearing for 4 weeks (initially 6 but I was making good progress!) and today I am walking on it and still healing but doing so much better. I really like his communication and aggressive medical style in that each step was progressive and he was very specific about my rehab with weekly lists to my therapist of what was needed for progress. He’s a great Doctor who really knows his specialty. I will continue to go to him and recommend him.

Overall a good experience. Office staff needs training.

Dr Gazzaniga did my knee surgery in 2013. I tore my meniscus and ACL. He was very thorough and explained to me exactly what he was going to do and gave me a few options. The surgery went exactly as he described and I had moderate pain, but nowhere near as bad as I thought. He was very confident about his skills but NOT cocky. He took time to answer questions and made me feel at ease from the day I meant him. And his cuts were so tiny. I had 4 tiny incisions that you can hardly even see. :) I would recommend him for sure!

I had surgery for FAI, labrum tear, and lengthening of my psoas (not sure how to spell that) in October of 2015, he was very nice and great at explaining everything to me. Surgery went well, except I twisted my hip badly 2−½ months post op. After a bit of complaining about pain turns out I needed another surgery. I was very bummed out, but dr gazzaniga made me feel comfortable and ended up having to take more bone, and also remove the anchor that I pulled out. I’m 8 hours post op, and if I ever need surgery again on anything else I’ll definitely be coming to my man Dr G. He’s a great dr and very easy to talk too.

My son had a bucket tear meniscus and we wanted it repaired not cut away to clean up. Dr. Gazzaniga uses the newest technology and is extremely experienced. He has 5 kids so he could really empathize with my 14 year old and his injury. He is an Orthopedic surgeon and he is kind, empathetic and an amazing listener… I used to think that was impossible! Usually ortho docs are very curt and unfriendly (all business) but not Dr. Gazzaniga, he is living and caring. He performed orthroscopic surgery with no stitches on the outside! He sewed up my son’s meniscus on the inside and my son has no scars on the outside! He is extremely gifted and talented. I feel really, really lucky to have met him and experienced his wisdom.

My husband is scheduled to have knee replacement surgery with Dr. Cailloutte so I have been reading reviews for Newport Orthopedic. I had arthroscopic hip surgery with Dr. Gazzaniga and saw Dr. Saffman for an epidural. Both were great. I have to agree with other reviewers about the wait time. The staff was pleasant and courteous, but obviously very busy. I will take a great surgeon over great staff everytime.

Not impressed with this guy. He works at Newport Orthopedic Institute and treats his patients like an assembly line. He never delved into my medical history and misdiagnosed my torn rotator cuff for frozen shoulder which I’m sure can be a common mistake, but when one of his colleagues diagnosed the tear, he was arrogant and egotistical stating that her way was antiquated. Turns out it WAS a torn cuff after I took myself to a caring competent orthopedic who diagnosed it right away. I never felt confident with Dr G. He has his own agenda which is to get patients In and out as fast as possible and to make as much money as possible. God forbid if you ask an intelligent question too. You’ll get a cocky attitude right back. He doesn’t care about you as a patient. He cares about how much money he can make from you.

Dr. Gazzaniga is a remarkable, caring, and thoughtful physician. He has been overseeing my daughter’s knee injury, and he has made the visits and process a peaceful one for her. He explains to her articulately in a manner she can understand, so that she truly feels like the patient and not a child who merely overhears the conversation between the doctor and parent. His steps are cautious and thorough, and so far, she is on the road to healing thanks to his care and practice!

Dr. G is awesome. He took the time to explain everything, and made me feel very comfortable. Highly recommended.

I was told I needed surgery by Dr. Beyer (from the same medical group) following an MRI on my right knee for a torn lateral meniscus. Not having more than 1 minute to ask him questions before Dr. Beyer left the room to «get the ball rolling» on surgery, I decided to get a second opinion and thankfully chose Dr. Gazzaniga after hearing of his background as being the head surgeon for the New York Jets and Islanders. Very glad I did. I actually got to review the MRI images with Dr. Gazzaniga and he told me that if it was his knee, he wouldn’t opt for surgery, and the tear was so minor/​microscopic that surgery could actually do more harm than good. Instead he prescribed physical therapy to strengthen the knee. Very pleased with the time he spent to discuss my results and answer my questions thoroughly, and now I have a non-​surgical option to recovery.

I ruptured my Achilles tendon, and Dr Gazzaniga and his staff were able to get me into surgery within that same week. Dr Gazzaniga’s bedside manner was great: calm, to the point, and very knowledgable. When he went in to surgically repair my tendon, it was in worse shape than expected. He went beyond the basic repair: he took part of another tendon in my leg and actually wove that into my damaged muscle/​tendon to lay down more cartilage to help me heal better. I am now 4 months out and doing very well. This was a really crappy injury to have, but I have had a wonderful surgeon fix it! I couldn’t be happier with my decision to go with Dr Gazzaniga for my repair.

Very calm, relaxed demeaner which is pleasant to have when our bodies are broken. He takes his time deciding on the proper action to take. He did my ACL with HTO. I’m still recovering but soo far so good.

The Dr’s bedside manner is ok, nothing special. He’s actually a bit blunt but knows his stuff. Now the desk people who are ssupposed to understand how insurance works, they’re plain ignorant. I decded to pay up front since I haven’t been there in years, but they better not try that again when I come in for MRI and follow-​up.

After a torn rotator cuff, I was operated on in August. I was told no golf or tennis for 6 months. I finally got to hit a bucket of balls at the driving range and play two sets of tennis this weekend, after only 4 ½ months. Oh, man. I feel human again. Thanks, Dr. Gazzaniga. Great work.

Dr. Gazzaniga is WONDERFUL! He has a quiet and thoughtful manner and does not rush in to decisions about treatment. He recently performed surgery on my daughter but first tried to work with an alternate treatment for her and encouraged me to get a second opinion prior to committing to the surgery. His calm demeanor was so reassuring and he was able to explain the surgery and implications to my child in a way that made it easily understood. Sadly, you will probably only meet this wonderful doctor under unfortunate circumstances (injury, etc) but I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Gazzaniga and his helpful staff. He is a part of the Newport Orthopedic Institute group in Fashion Island and also sees patients in their Huntington Beach office