Ayad Alanizi, MD

If there was a way to do no stars, I would. Much like many of the other Unilocalers, I had a terrible experience (and it affecting other areas of my healthcare after the appointment).
Let’s excuse the fact that I had to wait almost 2 months to get a basic annual exam scheduled (and that I had to take the whole afternoon off work because of how late I was let in, even though there was one other patient in the office).
Let’s excuse that the office and exam room were incredibly dingy (cobswebs, rust, dust, and a lingering mildew smell).
Let’s excuse that the staff was incredibly rude and unhelpful.
Let’s even excuse that they charged me copay at the start, even though my insurance waives the fee for one women’s wellness exam a year.
I could maybe put up with this if the following things hadn’t happened:
1. My exam was incomplete. I was given a pap. No breast exam or other examinations to check my health. I was not even given a robe to allow for a complete exam. I was just told to take my pants off and was handed a small paper blanket to cover my legs.
2. The doctor showed up in a leather jacket. No white coat. No professional attire.
3. I was given a completely inappropriate lecture on his hesitance to prescribe birth control because doctors «overprescribe» it to young women who «don’t know what’s best for them or tend to behave irresponsibly.» On top of this, I had to battle him to get the typical 12 month prescription, since he said he preferred to give me 2 months at a time, followed by another exam, all year.
4. He does not do prior authorizations under any circumstance, and it is a battle to get him to do dispense as written — even if you have well documented allergies to generics. Thank goodness my insurance company did a review and ultimately overrode this (even though that process took an additional 2 months). In total, it has taken 3 months to get this prescription filled.
Overall, he seemed very disinterested in my actual health and well-​being, and seemed much more invested in getting me to visit and pay copays frequently. Oh, and he seemed invested in passing his judgment on me in ways that were wholly inappropriate, unprofessional, and unwelcome. I have a complaint on record and will not be continuing with this office.

Terrible. Just terrible.
I’ll never be back.
First of all, I scheduled my appointment in April for a check up, I didn’t get in til the end of May, which I get, it’s busy. I made my appointment which was at 945. I showed up at 930 to fill out new patient paperwork. I literally did not get seen til 1050. I waited over an hour.
I was concerned with a lump I felt in my breast. He felt the area and proceeded to tell me to take off my top, Normally, a male doctor will step out of the room or at Least turn around while I undress but nope. I did feel uncomfortable, he rudely asked, after the fact, «do you need a girl in here? Are you uncomfortable or something?»
Uhhhmmmm… Well it’s a little too late now, I just undressed in front of you.
He asked me if I drank. I said yes from time to time. He asked about my caffeine intake. One cup of coffee a day. He then told me, that’s why I have that lump. Wtf?
He then said he has to contact my insurance to see if I can get an ultrasound and that I’d have something in the mail within 3 days.
Well… It’s the middle of June and still nothing, he’s so quick to judge and rolls his eyes over someone in their twenties drinks occasionally.
It was the only experience I’ve had where I left in tears and completely unsatisfied.

Pro’s
–Dr. Alanizi is a nice man.
Cons’s
— He is quick to prescribe medication.
— Wrong diagnosis for illness.
— The billing department is totally incompetent.
— Office and patient rooms are dirty and run down.

I’ll do 4 stars because I just had my first visit. My next visit may or may not go so well so I could either add that last star or take one away.
I have an HMO. Randomly picked someone close. That’s it. The only thing that scared me was these reviews.
I saw Dr. Alanizi. He was patient and attentive. He was also very straightforward with me. He told me more than any doctor I’ve had as an adult. He listened to my symptoms, talked to me about them and what could be going on, and was aggressive in his approach to the issue at hand.
He seemed to be speaking from experience. Most doctors do, but they always give me the impression of «Well, this is that.» Dr. Alanizi’s approach was «Oh, I’ve seen this and this is what we can do. No problem. We’ll work on it together»
I’m happy I ended up here.
P.S.
He was abrupt in his manner of speech. I took this as his character trait and did not feel offended by the way he spoke to me. You can slap me across the face if you want to as long as you help me stay healthy.

I cannot actually comment on how Dr. Alanizi is as a physician. I just moved to Pasadena and needed a new primary care physician. After making an appointment, I showed up and they had not told me that I needed to bring cash or check for my copayment, and then called me up to the window after 45 minutes of waiting to tell me that I had to call my insurance company to change my primary care provider. I asked that she Dial for me so that I could get through, but after waiting on the phone and no answer from my insurance company I demanded back my copayment and left the clinic after an hour of waiting.
The medical assistants could have called to preauthorized my visit last week and avoided this entire scenario.
The other gentleman in the waiting room had broken his arm, and I watched him wait for one hour while he was writhing in pain. The assistants at the front desk chose to ignore him despite him and his wife pleading to go see the doctor.
As a physician myself, I have never seen such poor service and poorly run clinic. I will never return to this office, and I would recommend to Dr. Alanizi that he replace his medical assistants as they are driving away his business.

This office charges $ 150 if they have to fill out a one page health report for school. You have to pay right there if you want the form filled out. Even though insurance pays for an annual physical, the office will charge you $ 150 for filling out the form, which actually has about ¹⁄₃ of a page of regular items on it like height and weight. The person in the office does not offer any explanation for this.

One of the few doctors who genuinely cares about his patients.
He explains things in simple terms and makes sure the patient understand everything.
I have gone to one internal medicine doctor and then a dermatologist on referral to have a bump on my thumb looked at, after 4 hours of circus act i ended up with three possible diagnosis and a recommendation for a treatment that only had 50% chance of working.
Out of frustration i went to Dr Alanizi. He was able to diagnose the bump as a ganglion right away and drained the fluid out. During the procedure he constantly checked on me to make sure i was OK.
I read the other reviews, i think some people mistake his imperfect English as bad bedside manner.

Dr. Alanizi is an outstanding physician and is extremely knowledgeable. I personally had a medical problem that no other doctors could resolve, and went through extensive, embarrassing, and painful tests to no avail. Dr. Alanizi was the first physician to listen to my symptoms fully. As it turns out, I was right – I was the one-​in-​a-​million, freak accident case. Dr. Alanizi was the only physician who even considered that possibility, and like Sherlock Holmes, he investigated and solved my problem. Thank God for the doctors who listen.

This doctor is absolutely the worst! Actually, probably shouldn’t even call him a doctor. DO NOT make him your primary physician, or better yet just don’t go to him at all. He is does not listen, and he does not care. You pay him and he tells you «Everything seems normal. Okay you can go.»
I’m very surprised by the positive reviews. Dr. Alanizi must have bribed those positive reviewers.

Our family has gone to Dr. Alanizi for six years. And in those years, he has proven to be the most effective doctor we’ve had.
When ever I see him, he always asks about my family. He knows their names and things that we’ve seen him for over the years. For example, my husband had a terrible back problem that previous doctors had only given back injections and prescribed ridiculous amounts of pain killers. Dr. Alanizi didn’t bother with all that nonsense. His goal was to get the back problems corrected and my husband off medication– which is exactly what we wanted. At the very first appointment, he referred us to one of the finest neurosurgeons in California and within a couple of weeks, my husband had the back surgery at Huntington, one of the finest hospitals, at which Dr. Alanizi also has privileges. Six years later, his back is in great condition and he hasn’t been on painkillers since just after the surgery. Dr. Alanizi also recommended a place where we could get free home care devices on loan, which helped in the recovery.
I have had several intestinal problems. Again, Dr. Alanizi referred me a surgeon he has known for over thirty years. My surgeries have been successful. Anytime I had any questions or concerns, I simply call the office and they get me in that day, sometimes within the hour.
He knows exactly what medications we’re on and why. I have a condition which requires use of a medication that is often prescribed for depression. Because I do not have a diagnosis of depression, pharmacists at big-​boxes like CVS tell me they are unable to fill my prescription. Dr. Alanizi recommended a pharmacist who will take the time to work with the pharmaceutical company to see that I get my medication. Sure enough, I got what I needed!
I’ve never felt ignored by Dr. Alanizi. I’ve never felt pushed out of the way. And anytime he has to prescribe medication or write a refill, according to the sign in his office, it is California law that he see the patient. That seems like good medical practice to me.

I have been going to see Dr. Alanizi for as long as I can remember. He is such a wonderful man.
Very surprised to see such negative reviews.
He takes his time, asks me questions, and truly works to understand my issue. He knows more about me and my family than some of my friends.
Wonderful is the word I would use. Always shows concern with adding any medications, and checks for issues with each. Knows my history and helped get me on the path to a healthier lifestyle.
Even when he is away on vacation, and I have to see the Doctor on Call he takes the time to check in with me.
I would recommend him without hesitation.

Horrible doctor. Ignored my description of problems, interrupted often and didn’t respond to me as a patient. Ignored certain blood levels being low, telling me everything was fine, and when I saw the results and pointed out that my levels were low, he dismissed it. When I had a random medical issue, he told me to get a blood levels test again. Then when the test came back fine (he didn’t show me the results this time) he pressured me to get all sorts of other scans and tests to find out what might have been the cause of the random issue. When I told him I was concerned about insurance, he assured me that my insurance would cover it all (it wouldn’t) and that I should get all the tests — even the ones that were almost entirely unnecessary and superfluous.
Went in for a prescription refill. Told me to get a a test to check on the medication (with no indication that anything was wrong and only a very small percentage of users suffering). Had to schedule another visit for the test, and another visit to go over the results. The results visit took about an hour — mostly me waiting in the waiting room, then a little while waiting in the exam room, then a brief «OK, you’re fine, nothing to worry about.» That’s right — three office visits I had to pay for, for no reason.
Next time I wanted a refill, he wanted another test, which he’d never been concerned about but decided I should get checked anyway. Also regarding problems almost unheard of with users of my medication. He kept pressuring, like a salesman. I called insurance to see if they would cover the test, but the nurse didn’t fill out the order correctly, so insurance couldn’t figure out what test I was asking about. I spent hours of my afternoon on the phone with the nurse and the insurance guy. Then the insurance guy called he nurse. Apparently, the nurse was unable to find out from any of her resources what the code for the test was, and she couldn’t even tell the insurance guy what the name of the test was. She also lied to the insurance guy about my conversation with her so that she wouldn’t look bad. So I finally took the form to the lab to get my blood drawn (guessing with the tech about what I was supposed t get), and then over a month later, I got a bill from the lab — without ever hearing about my oh-​so-​important results from the office.
Had a billing issue where they billed my old insurance rather than my new insurance. It took hours and hours of conversations with them, over the phone and during trips I made to their office to speak to them in person, to get things sorted out. Months passed and I was still having issues with them. I kept getting late fees on my bill. I had issues with collections. The reason? The front office is apparently inept. They finally sorted everything out, and sent me a check for I think 200 bucks to refund money I had already given them because their office couldn’t get things straight.
Nurses are incompetent and unhelpful. The doctor insists on office visits for every single thing. He doesn’t listen, sometimes dismissing things, but then sometimes having a reaction that is the opposite extreme the next time you come in. If you book a visit for their first slot of the day, you’ll STILL end up waiting 45 minutes to get in. And then the doctor will speed through your visit as quickly as possible, despite the fact that he doesn’t exactly have a flood of patients waiting for him.
They don’t answer questions. They don’t listen. They mismanage your money, your time, and your health. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. This guy should not be in business.

Fuller Community, this is not the doctor you want to see. His character is lacking and has the bedside manner of a bully. It’s one thing to be talked to by an expert, someone that knows more about his field than I do … but this guy, just bulldozes through a conversation. To be avoided.

Absolutely avoid this Dr. if at all possible. I was assigned him by my new insurance as a Primary Care Physician (mainly because of his office address being close to my house). Upon my first visit to discuss general health and get a referral to a GYN locally I was appalled that after the medical asst took my vitals and I NOTICED my blood pressure was high, my normal is ¹²⁰⁄₈₀ or lower and it was 139/​89, with a family history of heart attacks under the age of 50… when the Dr. came in to see me he never even mentioned this as a potential problem. Additionally when I told him about a degenerative disk problem I have had in my neck, and that I had pain running down my left shoulder and arm recently his answer was, «I can’t give you codine, that’s against policy». I did not ask for any Rx, I asked about what to do to help it or what type of Dr. to see regarding it! I never mentioned medication. When I asked for a referral or the GYN because I wanted a female, I was referred to a MALE dr., 20+ miles from my home.
Dr. Alanizi never looked in my ears/​nose/​throat, took a pule or listened to my heart with a stethoscope! He had never laid eyes on me before that day and he barely looked at me while we were in the exam room. He sat there, wrote some notes and sent me to a lab for blood work. I am still waiting to hear what the tests were and what the results were, even though I have called his office to find out.
Overall it was a pathetic experience and I will NOT accept him as my «primary physician». The office visit was a complete waste of time.