Dr. Daniel L. Miller

Very disappointed with my outcome. Before surgery my Haller was 7, two months after surgery Haller 11.7. Will be having surgery with a different doctor to repair what Dr. Miller did.

<div>Update: January 2023 had a 12 hour surgery to fix the damage done by Miller. I now have 8 titanium plates, cadaver bone, 108 screws and two Nuss bars holding my chest together. Everything‘s permanent and Nuss bars will be left in as long as possible. My new surgeon said if I had been in an automobile accident, I would’ve been killed instantly from an airbag. Everything was completely floating.<br><br>Please do your research and reach out to former patients before using Dr. Miller. He is dishonest and unethical. Summer of 2020 had all my records sent to Dr. Miller and he personally called and told me not only did I need a redo, but a chest wall expansion. Before surgery I reached out to several patients that he performed this procedure on and none of them were happy with their results. I told Dr. Miller what other patients were saying and I was skeptical, but he was reassuring that I would have a different result because I was going into this healthy and they had other issues. Went through with the surgery and he reassured me that I had a lot more room and it was successful. I told Dr. Miller at my six month follow-up that my breathing was worse after surgery and my chest looked worse. He showed me on the CT scan my new HI 5. He wanted to see me back at the one year mark with all new test. Things weren’t measuring up and at the one year mark I had new testing and got two other opinions and that’s when I learned the truth. I never needed a chest wall expansion and never met criteria for it. My new Dr told me that Dr. Miller’s CT scan wasn’t supporting a HI 5 and wasn’t taken down to the lowest level. Dr Miller lied. Went into surgery with a HI 7 and at the one year my HI 11. My ribs and sternum are floating and chest is unstable. I will need extensive surgery to fix his mess that he called successful. A doctor from Cleveland clinic said, he has never seen anything like this and Dr. Miller has been dismissed from three different hospitals and is doing sloppy work. I encourage you to look up his medical license and see for yourself. He loses privileges from hospitals and a few months later shows up at a new one. I have no clue how Dr Miller still has a medical license. There’s a Facebook group with only his patients ( The Miller Experience ) and a lot of heartbreaking stories. All I can say is please do your research.&nbsp;</div>

Dr. Miller is an excellent doctor. He is extremely knowledgeable and very concerned with patient questions and concerns. He is no longer at CTCA but is in Augusta, GA. He did the modified Ravitch procedure for me and it has made breathing much easier for me. It was an intense procedure and a challenging recovery. One year out I am almost 100%. Scar tissue does take time to stretch and soften and causes some tightness. But it gets better each month.

Dr. Miller is like a used car salesman, only believe half of what he says. Much of what he tells you about his bio-bar surgery is propaganda. The bars do not fully dissolve and are always in you, according to 2 separate thoracic surgeons seen in consult after this procedure.
At my 6 month check up he told me I was healing better that expected and my surgery was successful. You couldn't see some of the cartilage in the scan. When I asked him about it, he said it was there but we couldn't see it in this scan because on a different frequency. He assured me I was fine and when I complained of pain and movement in the ribcage, he said "it's just my body getting used to it's new shape." He never returned my call after that point. Turns out, my surgery was not successful, I did not regrow cartilage at all and have a floating sternum. I will now require another surgery to get titanium struts to hold me chest in place. My haller index is the same after surgery as it was before surgery.

Had my consult with Dr. Miller today and I am very impressed. My story is complex as I had a Ravitch done when I was 16 years old and now have a mixed recurrence of Precuts Excavatum and Acquired Thoracic Syndrome (restriction of the chest wall and its volume after having a Ravitch at a younger age ). Both of these diagnosis caused restrictive lung disease and heart compression which would not allow my heart to pump effectively under stress.

I was struggling to find a surgeon who would evaluate me, let alone operate on me due it being a re-operation. My wife reached out to Dr. J who was not doing redo Pectus Excavatum surgery at this time (Thank You Dr. J for getting back to us). She did however recommend Dr. Miller and I can see why. He is very knowledgeable and familiar with the disease. He was able to identify or at least give his thoughts on why my previous surgery collapsed and how he would prevent it from occurring again. His explanation made complete sense from a structural stand point and he explained the use of his bio bridges. I was concerned about the bio bridges being strong enough as I am a big person (6'4"/230) but he did not seem concerned about my size and even said he has operated on bigger people.

He informed me I should arrive 1 day prior to surgery for an office visit and that I should plan on being in the hospital 5-7 days, then another 3 days in the area before I fly home. Typical follow up being at 1 month and 6 months.

I think what I am most impressed about is that Dr. Miller discussed what seemed to be an individualized plan for me which was very reassuring.

If you have Acquired Thoracic Syndrome (ATS) or recurrent Pectus Excavatum Dr. Miller is someone you should absolute consult with. I will post more after surgery to share my experience.