I was extremely blessed to be referred to Dr. Bava many years ago and was his patient for over 12 years before I moved to a Pennsylvania retirement community in 1917 to be near one of my sons.
He is the most caring and knowledgeable foot and ankle doctor I've ever seen. I am a diabetic and needed special shoes which he wrote prescriptions for. My right foot has several deformed toes (hammer toes) which he was able to keep a check on and keep from getting wounds that would require amputation. One time that I had ankle and leg pain (I thought was a stress fracture) he was able to diagnose that I had a blood clot (which my PCP did not diagnose) and immediately sent me for a test which resulted in me going to the hospital for treatments.
He would urge me if I got a blister etc. to call him right away and he would work me in to see him before it got worse.
I also was prone to stress fractures and thought I had one when we were out of town visiting grandchildren one time. My son took me to the emergency room and I called Dr. Bava, explained my symptoms and what I had been doing. He recommended they put a boot on me even if they didn't see a fracture, because sometimes stress fractures don't show up on the first xray. He was right. It was like he knew me and my feet so well he could determine what my problem might be even from a distance during a phone call.
I miss him and his caring and expertise so much. I am on my 5th foot doctor here in PA. My first one here was about to retire and basically only cut toenails. The second one did not really help me with preventing wounds on my toes and prescriptions for shoes were not always written properly. It was often difficult to get an appointment with her. She ended up amputating 2 toes which Dr. Bava could have probably saved. The next one said I needed a a wound specialist. The wound specialist moved to another state after I saw him twice but he introduced me to another doctor in the same practice. So far he is working out just fine, he is less experienced than Dr. Bava but he listens when I have foot problems tries my suggestions from what I remember Dr. Bava did.
Yet, he is in no way of the same caliber as Dr. Bava. I miss him so much and email him often.
He wasn't just a caring doctor, he was like family! His staff was always pleasant, efficient, as well as caring also.
You will not be sorry if you trust him with your foot and ankle care, but you may be sorry if you choose someone else! read more