Dr. John Patrick Howlett, MD

I saw Dr. Howlett about 6 months ago. I was having numbness in both hands every morning and pain at the base of if my thumb. After Xrays and exam, he told me to just put aspercream on my pain, but he was sure I had carpal tunnel and needed to have an EMG done to confirm the severity so insurance would pay for surgery. He ordered wrist braces for me to wear at night to help with the numbness. I wear them nightly and the numbers went away. Yet when the EMG confirm carpal tunnel syndrome, he was pushing to do surgery for both hands. He told me that I could have surgery on Thursday and be back to work on Monday. I questioned that because I type all day at work. He convinced me that it would be a quick recovery. I scheduled the surgery, but later canceled after asking friends who had the surgery and doing research. Basically, most people are of work 6-8 weeks. I don't trust a doctor who is not giving me truthful information. I have since gone to an amazing hand specialist in a different office 2 blocks away. Who is treating me for my severe arthritis at the base of my thumb. I wear a recommended brace at work and got an infection to see if that will alleviate pain. If the infections help enough, I may avoid surgery, but this other doctor told me all my mornings in great detail including how long I'd be off work if I do have surgery and how long I would be doing physical therapy. In my opinion, Dr. Howlette is too eager to make money from doing surgery and not caring about the impact to the patient.