John Carrigg, MD

I have what are apparently nightmare narrow twisted ear canals that make it extremely difficult to clear the wax from. I’ve been treated by a number of different ear specialists throughout the years, and Dr. Carrigg is the best, bar none. I hope he never retires…

Competent, caring doctor as there ever was. True, he has little patience for stupidity or whining. He knows what he is doing and has solved many problems for people in my family.

Dr. Carrigg is simply the best. He has been treating my family, including my 89 year old mother, for more than 25 years. He performed a complicated sphenoid surgery on my husband that likely saved his life. Years later, during a routine visit, Dr. Carrigg noticed a spot on my husband’s forearm. He asked if he had ever had it checked. My husband did have it checked previously (twice) by his primary care physician and was told (twice) it was nothing. Dr. Carrigg referred him to a dermatologist (Dr. Daniel Wall — also fabulous) who biopsied the spot and the result was malignant melanoma. So… he saved his life twice. A wonderful man and a skilled doctor beyond compare. Thank you for your care. His front office assistant, Stephanie, is professional, friendly and can seem to fit you in even when the doctor is booked solid. She’s number one in my book.

Very Impatient unethical & unprofessional receptionist (Stephanie) in taking the most important aspect of Medical Assessment which is blood pressure using only a digital BP wrist monitor. She took the Vitals of my 80+Senior friend & encountered errors with the BP monitor 3−4x
.She was annoyed & kept telling us that it works awhile ago but doesn’t seem to work yet that time when she was getting it. On top of her impatience she kept telling us in our face that she still have a lot of things… to do inside .That if i can guess the last BP that she had so she’s done & can write it down on her medical chart or else she’s gonna copy the last BP that she had more than 5 – 6 months long ago .How rude & unprofessional is that!!!
Medical charting shld. be accurate @ all times its the patients right to get the medical treatment that they need based on the medical findings. Soo… your impatience and unprofessionalism doesn’t fit in to yhe scope of work your in. I’ll be nice with the review if you’re a little intelligent & professional:)

Been seeing Dr. Carrigg for 7 years now & I love his practice. I’ve had an ear issue for many years that even the docs back in Boston at Harvard’s Mass. General weren’t able to help with. He took care of the problem on the first visit & gave me a variety of things I could do at home to help keep the problem at bay. I really like this proactive approach. He is a straight shooter, no fluff & tells it like it is. I have to say, it is refreshing in this day & age. There is a personal touch in this office, his admin assistant is fantastic & can always fit you in. It’s easy to get to by car or Bart, right in downtown Orinda, & parking is ample.

Total waste of my time. Thought i would see an ear, nose & throat specialist since i had a sore throat/​cough for over a week. Well, he tells me he’s not a specialist for people who have coughs. Really? Why didn’t your freaking receptionist tell me that when she asked why i was coming in. Total waste of my time and money.

straightforward doctor who seems to know what’s going on, but i’m not a doctor

Dr. Carrigg may possess a wealth of knowledge regarding hearing disfunction, but he did not seem interested in sharing much of it with me. In fact, I had the distinct impression that he has grown bored by the repetitiveness of the whole thing and his rote comments seemed tired and perfunctory. He was not interested in what I had to report.
He was definitely interested in getting me into a pair of Lyric hearing aids and spent well over half my time there pushing them. Suspiciously large portion of my time, in fact. As it is a local company (I looked), I wondered if the good doctor might have had a financial interest in Lyric. I do not think that, if it is the case, it is necessarily a bad thing if he has a part in developing a ‘better’ mouse trap (hearing aid) for folks with impaired hearing, but I expected some effort in the analytical department, a reasonable attempt at diagnosis, investigation, blood work, MRI, etc. Anything more than a cursory look in my ear searching for waxy deposits.
I went to another ENT and she is all over my case and I feel something may come of it. A completely different experience and even if nothing comes of it, I will be convinced that a reasonable effort was involved, unlike my experience with Dr. Carrigg.

Dr. Carrigg is the best ENT specialist I have ever been to. Here’s why:
1. He was able, through the aggressive use of antibiotics, to cure what I thought was a chronic ear problem that nobody else had been able to fix.
2. I had had chronic nosebleeds, usually once every 3 – 4 days, for several years, once involving a call to 911. I had been to another ENT who cauterized the area, to no effect. Dr. Carrigg identified and fixed an aneurysm in my nose that had been the ultimate cause of the problem. I haven’t had a nosebleed since then, two years now.
He is extremely knowledgeable about all things involving the ear and nose and his treatments have been, for me, spot on. I recommend Dr. Carrigg without any reservations whatsoever. Sure, he’s not a touchy-​feely sort of doctor, but I’d rather have a no-​nonsense doctor who cured my problems than someone with a great bedside manner who didn’t know jack.

In spite of a few bad reviews I decided to try this ENT doctor anyway. I was having some pain in my ear and the wax buildup seemed unmanageable. His office was the only one I could actually reach out of three that I called. The receptionist was very helpful and let me know the best time to come in on very short notice. Dr. Carrigg was to-​the-​point, cordial, cleaned out my ears, made sure there was no infection or damage, let me know about his findings and was easy to understand. He made some suggestions with regard to what he thought the problem might be, inexpensive ones. The price was reasonable, less than I thought I would have to pay. I was relieved to know that I was fine. It took a while for the ear to kind of balance out after the treatment, but now my hearing seems back to normal and the pressure is subsiding.

I was wondering if it was just ME, but after reading most of the other reviews, it’s clear this «doctor» leaves much to be desired. Just as MOST of the others had to say, this doctor came off as arrogant, condescending and even confrontational. My elderly 86-​year-​old father was nervous about seeing Dr. Carrigg again because just as we got into his new office, my father suddenly remembered that it was THIS doctor who hurt him during an ear wax removal appointment some 4 years ago at an older office location. That first visit actually left a scab on my father’s ear drum. I tried to tell the doctor to be careful and gentle this time, and Carrigg actually told me to «drop it!»
I will NEVER bring my aging father to this «doctor» again.

This guy is great if you want cut-​to-​the-​chase, genuine solutions. I read these reviews but had the opposite experience. A friend recommended him to me after I called her complaining that every ENT I called wanted $ 300 for a first visit… to remove earwax! She recommended Dr. Carrigg and they squeezed me in, on a FRIDAY, to see me. The guy was great! He checked to see if earwax was the problem and removed it. Nice guy, Direct, Easy. Reasonable price. I was overjoyed! So, I recommend him highly.

terrible — just as everyone else has said. horrid bedside manner. told me that my condition was in my head. spoke a lot from his own personal experience («when similar things have happened to me» — «when i went in for an endoscopy» and on and on). i am not there to learn from his personal experience. i had to shove on him all the information i’d gathered beforehand (including, luckily, detailed information on what sorts of tests should be ordered thanks to a friend who’d experienced something similar) for him to VERY begrudgingly agree to look into my situation further, all the while telling me he was certain that they would turn up nothing. (well, then, great! i would LOVE for them to turn up nothing. it’s not like i enjoy being sick.)
i also had to listen to him rant for 10 – 15 minutes about something completely unrelated to my medical issue — some issue he has with hospitals, attending practices, blah blah blah. as if the wait in doctor’s offices isn’t enough — i mean, really? get a therapist, dude. i should have told him to stop but i needed the test he was going to order for me and i’d already paid my co-​pay — i wasn’t about to go somewhere else.
in short, the guy has problems, is nearing retiring age, and really shouldn’t be seeing patients anymore.

first, they only take cash or check. I rarely have my checkbook and prefer to pay with my credit or debit card. my checkbook is to pay my rent and that is about it
second, horrible bedside manner. it felt like I was wasting his time (all 3 minutes of it) and the fact that he told me that there is no way I could be experiencing pain? please don’t assume you know what I experience.
if you want drive through service then go here, but if you want to actually talk with the doctor, go eslewhere