I can’t sing Dr. Vitale’s praises highly enough. He’s a wizard.

My daughter needed scoliosis correction for an “S” curve in her thoracic spine of 59 degrees and 50 degrees. I spent a lot of time researching surgeons and treatments and ended up deciding Dr. Vitale was the best possible person for the job. This was based on his reputation in the field, memberships, positions, publications, reviews, and just from speaking with him and his staff. (His PA, Amber, is wonderful and attentive as well.)

At our initial visit Dr. Vitale told us to expect a correction of about 80%, meaning each part of her curve would go down to about 12 degrees. He explained everything fully—the procedure (spinal fusion with instrumentation), the recovery (painful but manageable), what flexibility to expect (slightly reduced but luckily a thoracic fusion doesn’t affect flexibility the way cervical or lumbar would), and what limitations to expect (no limitations to future sports or activities). We were scared of the idea of fusion but decided it was the right approach vs. tethering.

Dr. Vitale has an incredible bedside manner. He’s completely patient, answered every one of our questions, never seemed to need to be anywhere else even though I’m certain he had plenty of other patients to attend to. We saw him in-person twice before the day of surgery and several times just before and after, and every time we saw him he was the same calm, professional, soothing presence. He gave us plenty of time to make difficult choices. He was never in a hurry. He just felt present and focused—never rushing us, just there with us as we wrestled with one of the hardest decisions of our lives.

And then…the wizardry. He accomplished a nearly-100% curve correction. Her spine is STRAIGHT. We’re only a month out of surgery, so no long-term results to report on and she’s still in a lot of (to be expected) pain, but we never expected such complete correction.

He also works with a plastic surgeon who closes the incision, and the resulting scar is incredibly thin. I have no doubt it will heal well and be as invisible as one could hope a long scar could be.

We could not be happier with our choice of surgeon and recommend Dr. Vitale and his team without reservation. More than that, we’re immeasurably grateful to them for the care they gave our daughter. Not that we’d ever want this experience again, but we’d absolutely choose Dr. Vitale again if we needed to. —Sean D.