What is a medical pedicure?

First of all, thank you for visiting our site to research how to help yourself.  That falls right into why we are here.  We are here to help your feet! There has been some confusion as to the meaning of “medical pedicure” which I want to address. I am not trying to fool or mislead anyone.  Life is too short for such bad Karma.

What is a commonly accepted definition of a “pedicure”? According to Cambridge, a pedicure is a superficial cosmetic treatment of the feet and toenails.  Well said!

Now what is a spa type pedicure as experienced by millions?  It involves the cutting, trimming, and shaping of your nails, tending to cuticles, exfoliating, hydrating and massaging your feet.  And if desired, painting your nails. Treatment of callouses and rough skin can only be addressed superficially and with limited options.

So the big question is, What is a medical pedicure? Regardless of whether or not you experience a spa type pedicure, if you are seeing a podiatrist, you are seeing a medical professional who has years of education, training and experience with diagnosing and treating foot problems(which are vast).

A medical pedicure is a pedicure performed by a podiatrist.  What is the difference between a pedicure by a nail technician and one performed by a podiatrist?  Well, if you are blessed with beautiful nails, no callouses and soft supple skin, then nothing. Keep enjoying your strip center nail salon pedicures.   Anyone can trim nails, buff dry skin and apply moisturizers.  But we do not offer spa type pedicures here.  If they give you a fungus or bacterial infection, I can diagnose and treat those problems.

I have trimmed, cut and sanded a million toenails and callouses over the last 30 years.  As a highly trained podiatrist who does foot surgery, I am able to treat some very serious thick nails, callouses and fungal infections that most medical professionals themselves cannot treat.  I take care of problems that patients are embarrassed to take to the nail salon. In addition, I fix ingrown toenails medically by a common in office procedure performed in 10 minutes under local anesthesia.  Sure I can trim away the ingrowing nail just like the technician.  But if you want this problem to go away, then I will do the phenol matrixectomy.  It is painless and heals quickly!

I see patients all the time with various corns and callouses. Some are large, some are very focal and have pin point tenderness.  These calluses require debridement with a scalpel blade that only a trained medical professional can perform.  Nail technicians are not allowed to use sharp implements! I use a disposable blade and sanding disc to debride(trim down) and then sand the remaining callous smooth.

During your visit, we may discuss treatment of toenail fungus, athlete’s foot, heel pain and or ingrown toenails, etc .  This is the benefit of seeing a podiatrist for what we call “routine foot care”. I will even apply our in office favorite moisturizer Foot Miracle after your treatment! This allows me to feel which foot muscles are tight.  Then you can go get a foot massage with knowledge in hand!

I hope this blog has provided you with a better understanding of medical pedicures and the scope of podiatric medicine.  As I said earlier, we are here to try to help you the best that we can.  I look forward to seeing you when you need me!  If you like dogs, come in on Fonzie Friday!