Dr. Zachary Levine, MD

May 29th, 2019 I had laser brain surgery to treat my seizures and their impact to my life and to prevent future impact of them. After what, I'll never know, was sufficient testing of the location of my seizures I had a laser ablation of the hippocampus by Dr Levine. Doctors I have seen since, I now live in FL, question the location and the size of the laser hole. I just truly hope that my surgery and results are in Dr Levine mind when he thinks of future surgeries. My prior life was taken with the surgery and my seizures still exist. I knew the seizures may not be eliminated. However, the impact to the rest of my life, long term, was never something that I thought would happen or told would happen. Surgery decision would have been altered if I was ever aware that I might be where I am today. I was strong single woman. My life was my job and my family. I had so many plans for my future. Self-improvement, travel, volunteering, more happiness. These will never happen. Effects after surgery - lost of right side eye sight, balance issues, depression, anxiety and MCI - mild cognitive impairment (which doesn't feel mild most days). My life now, 5 years later: * I can no longer work and make sufficient money. I no longer have the pride in myself for being a strong, financially stable woman. I now live on Disablity payments. * I now live in the garage of my daughter's rental. - garage. * My balance has me careful where ever I walk. I have fallen about ever 3 to 6 months, Thankfully they have only caused sprained ankles, severely bruised knees and hips so far. * Seizures continue. * Biggest impact is MCI. I can not find words in conversations frequently. Often I can not remember something that happened or the detail of what I said. When someone talks to me for more than a few minutes I lose track or my brain shuts down and I can't understand what is being said. I need to embarrassing ask to repeat more briefly. 'Attention' MCI issue. The accurate location of needed removal needs to be clearly outlined. Potential impacts, in my opinion, were not clear enough and loss of all I have need to be told to patients thinking of laser brain surgery. They need to know of the possible life impacting effects this surgery can make!

I saw Dr. Levine 3 years ago for a third opinion, after being told by a surgeon at Johns Hopkins that I would need two level lumbar fusion. Dr. Levine "cleaned out" one level, using minimally invasive technique, and I was on my way home a few hours later. Drove 3 hours to see him and I couldn't be happier 3 years later!!! Have since sent 2 more friends to see him, 1 needed surgery and is doing great, and the other did not need surgery at all. Thank you Dr. Levine

I came to Dr Levine for a 2nd opinion ( or 4th). I found him through a trusted network of friends. He provided very honest and objective feedback based on facts and his rich knowledge and skills. His honesty is so obvious. Not like the other three Orthopaedic surgeons I saw prior, who tried to rush to surgery decision without considering the symptoms and the benefit of no surgical methods and time. Surgeons like Dr Levine are too precious!

Awful awful . He just started yelling at me in his office hallway. He said I was talking about him behind his back. Seriously give me a break.

Traumatic. He called me up-himself, yelled at me! I felt verbally attacked. We'd communicated thru his receptionist prior. I had consulted him 5 years before when I chose among several surgeons At that visit, he told me another doctor I had consulted, had trained him "was the Best." So I went to the other [older] doctor. I thought I would do a 5 yr followup visit with Dr L as he is younger can follow me in the future years when my current doc retires. It's now 5 years post surgery, when I asked the scheduler if she'd simply ask Dr Levine if the contrast with the MRI was necessary the next thing I know is he phones me, yelling:"You're the Patient; I'm the doctor! You don't get to dictate how I treat you! you get the contrast or I won't' see you!"I was flabbergasted, tried to say, I think we've miscommunicated. He interrupted,Loudly over my voice: "I offered you surgery, You chose to go somewhere else." I said,"You TOLD ME the other person was better!" I concluded, " I don't want You!"

Craniotomy. He saved my life. I could not recommend him more.

i had back surgery with Dr. Levine because of whatever he did I had to have another surgery to fix my problem. He has a terrible bed side manner. I would not recommend him to anyone. Not even an animal.

At my first appointment it was evident that I needed surgery but he did not push me to get it done. I was allowed to pick the time that was best for me. Even before the surgery we discussed optimizing my physical health by eliminating medical issues that might impede recovery. He was very thorough, using spine models to explain details. I had a 3-level ACDF in December with excellent results. He recommended Physical Therapy which has been very beneficial. Excellent surgeon, highly recommend.

Dr. Levine literally saved my life. I was living with very bad pain from a rather large protruding disc. The pain had a significant impact on my quality of life and my overall health from an activity and sleep standpoint. Dr. Levine took care of my pain. I woke up from surgery without any pain and walked out of the hospital before 11:30 a.m. that same morning. I no longer need to take pain relievers, muscle relaxers, or nerve medications to make pain tolerable enough to get through the day.

Dr. Levine was responsive, accessible, and most importantly, he did an excellent job with my cervixal disc replacement. The whole experience was very easy in a period of intense pain and stress for me. He gave me my life back.

Had an initial consult with Dr Levine concerning a pinched nerve issue. The first thing that struck me as different was as I was sitting in the exam room waiting, he stuck his head in and said 'just be a couple more minutes as I'm reviewing your films'. IN over 30 years as a patient, this is the first time I can every recall that happening. He took time to explain what is happening, outlined the most likely outcome if not treated and then outlined his recommendations with details as to why.

Dr. Levine performed lower back surgery on me in 2003. In a nutshell, he gave me my life back! Unlike old school doctors that recommended fusing my spine, he preferred a minimally invasive procedure. I didn't even require physical therapy following my procedure.