Recently I was paging through an advertisement for the upcoming New York Podiatric Clinical Conference, called Footlights. It looks to be a high quality conference with interesting topics, high profile speakers, and educational workshops. As I’m paging through, though, I see a section about cosmetic podiatry, and I have to stop and think for a moment. During podiatry school and residency I’ve been taught that surgery should not be performed for cosmetic reasons, but should be reserved for those patients who have pain and have not responded to appropriate conservative care.
I recall these thoughts and start to examine the ad more critically. Most of the topics seem benign enough, mostly dermatological treatments and such. In fact, nowhere do I see lecture topics about cosmetic bunionectomies, hammertoe corrections, or “arch rebuilding procedures.”
I have to admit I’m ambivalent on this topic. Personally, I think you’re nuts if you perform a flatfoot reconstruction on a painless patient. Performing a bunionectomy on a patient with no pain potentially opens you up to a lawsuit if any serious complications occur. Let’s think about a little scenario: you perform a bunionectomy on a 30-year-old woman because she doesn’t like her foot’s appearance. You’ve done the appropriate consent, but during the postoperative period she goes into AVN and the orthopod down the street fuses her MTPJ and urges her to sue you because he’s never heard of anyone doing cosmetic foot surgery. Bad situation! I know this example’s a little extreme, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
So, back to our ad. I’m not surprised to see this lecture track at one of our conferences. Supplementing our incomes with in-office dispensing has been increasingly discussed in the popular podiatric literature. From the Medicare diabetic shoe program to lotions and balms, advertisements and opportunities are popping up all over the place. In fact, a podiatrist just down the street from where I live has a “foot spa” in his office, advertising a number of cosmetic treatments. Now, in addition to this lecture track, I understand a new cosmetic podiatry board has been established.
This all sounds OK to me. I would never fault anyone from trying to supplement their income (as long as they’re doing it ethically and safely). My only concern is that podiatry as a community tends to go overboard a bit on the new hot item. Take external fixation or minimal incision surgery, for instance. They have their legitimate indications, but we’ve also heard of some pretty ridiculous uses for them too. I say go right ahead and have foot facials in the office; however, I urge a little caution in
judgment. Our first and last thought should be “Is this the best course of treatment for my patient?”
Interested in this topic ? Learn more by Googling
Cosmetic Foot Surgery or
Cosmetic Podiatry
What do you think? Does anything go? Should the plastic surgeons be the only ones to reap the fee-for-service rewards? Write in with your opinions. Happy holidays.
