Ear & Balance Institute

Dr. Gianoli's standard and scientifically unsupported diagnosis of perilymph fistula as a cause for my dizziness was the beginning to years of torture. His surgery on my ear did not help my dizziness. His misdiagnosis and subsequent surgery caused lasting ear problems that never existed before surgery and far outweigh my original complaint of dizziness. My quality of life and ability to care for my family and have meaningful relationships with friends and family has been destroyed as a result. I've spend thousands to try to find out how I can fix my ear problems that resulted from this surgery and have gone thorough many additional, invasive tests as a result of Dr. Gianoli's wrong diagnosis. Beware of the perilymph fistula diagnosis this doctor frequently makes. It will cost your dearly.

I have taken some time to reflect on my father's experience at the Ear and Balance Institute, and I feel like I have to leave this feedback for anyone considering them for treatment. We were told about EBI while my 82 year old father was in St Tammany hospital recovering from surgery. He has suffered with constant dizziness for 5 years, and has had every test and/or exam know to the medical world, with no relief. So I called EBI and was told about them not accepting insurance, and how this would allow for more personalized treatment, since they weren't dependent on referrals from other doctors, or insurance company approvals for treatments and procedures. While not inexpensive, my father and his children thought that the possibility of him finding out the cause, and subsequent lessening of his dizziness, far outweighed the out of pocket costs, which he had no trouble affording. He went through an initial exam and a battery of tests, went on a special diet, and took prescribed medication, and followed all of the doctors instructions in the hope of reducing the dizziness. After having crystals reset in both ears, and six weeks or so of the diet and medication, the dizziness lessened only slightly for a day or so, but quickly returned to the previous level. At this point Dr Gianoli, wanted my dad to meet with his partner Dr Soileau, later the same afternoon as our visit with Dr Gianoli. As I made the appointment, I asked if the $250 charge for the second opinion visit with Dr Soileau would be covered under the $250 visit fee paid for the visit we had just finished. I was met with some resistance from the lady behind the counter that always handled the billing, so I asked if they would please check whether the fee would be waived, and give me a call, but that I was coming back for the second opinion visit regardless of having to pay the $250 fee or not. We were happy to pay more the $6000 for our visits and treatments, but if I can save my father $250, I'm certainly going to try, as would any of you who are reading this review. I received a call from a different employee about an hour or so after we had left, telling me that Dr Gianoli, had now changed his "best course of action" to getting another second opinion from another doctor. I was shocked to hear that because I had questioned the extra visit fee, that we were being told that we should go somewhere else to get a second opinion(a second opinion that we had NEVER requested, but that Dr Gianoli had requested). I was assured that that was not the case, but honestly, how else could that have been translated? If I don't question the fee, my dad returns that afternoon to meet for the "second opinion" that they recommended, and everything is good. Had they called and simply said that they were sorry, but the fee had to be paid, and would we still like to come for the visit, I would have been completely satisfied. While meeting with Dr Soileau for another 3 hours, my dad was told that he had an irregular heartbeat(he had just had an echocardiogram less than 60 days before and his heart was fine), and we should consult with his cardiologist before coming back. As we walked out, Dr Soileau shook my hand and smiled at me and said "we're going to fix your dad, don't worry!" On my dad's next 2 nurses visits, no irregular heartbeats have been detected, nor have any been detected since. After spending over $6000 out of pocket with them, and being told how they were going to help(I took this with a grain of salt), we have not heard a peep from EBI, since the day we left that "second opinion" visit. So my dad is still dizzy, $6000 poorer and feels betrayed and lied to by both doctors at EBI. Since telling our story to anyone who will listen, I've discovered many other patients of EBI that payed a lot of money out of pocket with zero results. Fancy machines and sophisticated testing is no substitute for quality patient care, formerly called bedside manner. Whatever happened to "do no harm?"

I saw Dr. Gianoli five times and every time he gave me a new misdiagnosis. He insisted my vertigo that kicked in immediately after his surgical procedure had to do with the other ear. What an unlikely calamity. Really? On the same day of the surgery? When I told him about the pain in my ear, he told me there wasn't any pain in my ear. One thing is for certain: this doctor who brags on his expertise serves probably two lords, one of them is mammon. The Lord of Greed. Beware of anyone who claims to be "an expert." Most experts in any industry will NEVER claim it. They may show it to you, but you won't hear them or others claiming it. In many cases, when someone claims he or she is an expert, he or she is a con artist who is trying to cajole you into taking his or word without any outside verification. When in doubt, step back and doubt. Studies show there are more sociopathic doctors than previously suspected and one of their gaslighting tactics is the good ole "I'm an expert" claim.

I found out that Dr. G did something terrible to my ear that should not have been done and that cause me all my misery. Afterwards he totally abandoned me unless it is to blame my other ear for my misery. I am definitely ANOTHER VICTIM OF HIS PERILYMPH FISTULA MODUS OF OPERANDI MEDICAL FRAUD. I asked his office if I could share my experience on the Ear and Balance web site to notify other people from possible outcome of this ear surgery but my request was ignored. This is like Amazon only publishing five stars reviews on all the products they sell. And if he does not publish these bad experiences, can you really trust the positive reviews on his web site? This guy is a total fake, a despicable con artist and what he does, he does without informed consent of his patients.

Please save yourself from this man. I wish I had listened to others who warned me about his dishonesty and bad surgical skills. Unfortunately, I did not listen, and my life is forever changed. I will never be the same again. I have hearing loss, horrific tinnitus, altered hearing in both ears, and continued dizziness (my original complaint). He diagnoses many of his patients with a Perilymph Fistula and charges them cash for surgery. Other doctors of the same specialty agree that this diagnosis is extremely rare. However, the majority of Gianoli's patients pay thousands in cash to receive this diagnosis. Then, after surgery is done, their original symptoms are no better, and they have even worse ear problems that were never there the day before surgery. This doctor should not have a license. He should not be allowed to cut on one more patient. His positive reviews are very misleading, as they are done on an iPad, in his office, following your first appointment. At this point, Gianoli has convinced the patient he is the expert. Little do they know their quality of life is at risk and might soon be destroyed forever. Stay away!

I was seen by Dr. Gianoli and AVOID HIM AT ALL COSTS. He is negligent, careless, doesn't seem to actually pay attention to anything, and would rather put a patient through hell, than admit he didn't do his job properly.
It's just awful. A surgery and afterwards I am WORSE than when I walked in the door.
I promise you - Dr. Gianoli is the kind of outdated Doc who doesn't have 2021 level knowledge - aka treating your patient like they're worth a damn.

Stay away from Dr. G hands! He botched my surgery and I had to have my entire inner ear bone rebuilt. Poor surgical skills and after the surgery I saw the true him, abrasive personality, lousy bedside manner, does not want to be challenged or have his diagnosis and treatment questioned.

MY right side mid fossa went horribly wrong. He did a very poor job and has messed up my face and muscles that control my right eye. My right jaw took over 3 years before I could open it fully and it not pull my face really bad and cause my jaw to hurt at the connection to the jaw. I asked many questions and spoke out about how I did not like Round Window Plugging and that I did not fill that I had a PLF or fistula. I live around many mountains and elevation changes. The Diamox he puts everyone one for ever longs period of time some still one after 8yrs gave me very bad kidney stones. I had 5 in one year. So he gave me a very skilled botch spinal tap leak after I asked these questions and spoke out against plugging the RW's. He can mess you up and will play his cards on getting away with it. He is detached and should lose his license to practice medicine. My right side bone cement repair of the skull was very poor and he made it so I will fill pain for the rest of my life. He is a very corrupt lying man. After my spinal tap leak he gave me I laid flat for over 1 month but it would not heal back. So I went and got an epidural blood patch. This helped the massive headaches but caused me to go into RHP that put a lot of pressure on the RW plugging in both ears. First time Gianoli called me and did not charge me the $135.00 for 15 minutes to tell me not to take any of the Diamox I was put on from him to pull down the RHP. My first blood patch was locally so they did not understand what RHP was. And I not knowing truly what it was other than I kept having pressure go up and up. I did what he said and did not take the Diamox and in return after 3 weeks of RHP it popped both RW occlusions-plugging bilaterally. Now I have a worse problem from Dr. Wacko Gianoli sabotaging me on 3 different occasions. He is a crook and a liar. After my RW's both popped from RHP from him telling me not to take anything to pull down the pressure I went back to him 1.3yrs later. Did his testing had to have a friend drive me down there. He did not fill out any short term disability paperwork so I had to cash in a 401k early to live off. He passed me on all the test when I could not function nor stay on his machines. He took my $2800. 00 and said you are okay right now. I said the CT shows the RW are open with no plugging material in them anymore. He said the CT are not accurate. I said they can tell if the superior canal has a small 1mm hole in them so I think they are right. He lied again. He is a sick man. That's my report for he tells all his patients with SSCD that they have a fistula. Fistula brings him more money and people have to come back to get the fistula check if they think it has popped, weaken, or dislodged. He is crook running a big money operation. Don't challenge him or call him out or he will mess you up. I was nice how I ask him questions before but I know how he operates now. And one more thing. If you ever have back to back surgeries by Gianoli half of your skull will become bone cement. This stuff is pretty tough but if it ever cracks from head injury later it can become infected and then they will have to go in and take it all out. I could not find out how much he used nor how big are the holes he put in my skull. He put 4 holes in my skull and then reconstructed both sides of my head skull with HA bone cement. When I asked questions he did not want to answer he copped an attitude and then said no one has ever asked me these questions as a smoke screen. Then said you need to see a psychiatrist. This was to cover him so he can smear you up later. Watch out! This guy is slick as a snake. He messed me up bad and then dropped me after he got all my money.

People. Don't trust this doctor. He is dishonest, dangerous, careless, and eager to perform invasive unnecessary surgeries. I trusted him despite getting 4 other opinions informing me not to go through a surgery he recommended and consequently lost my hearing caused by the surgery he performed on me. Red flag to warn the naive people, "hundreds" of positive reviews.

Stay away from the dangerous office of dr Gianoli, this delusional doctor is committing surgeries based on idiosyncratic beliefs that are contradicted by science or reality. He perfected his lies to the point he cannot tell what is real from what he is imagining. I fell prey for his lies and ended up with permanent hearing loss, a dissected vestibular nerve and an excruciating tinnitus. This doctor should not be practicing anymore and should be sent to the Devil Island for the harm he caused me.