May 16, 2024 • 11 mins
Ever wondered what goes on in the precise and transformative field of podiatry surgery? Join us as we, Dr. Lauren DeBakeroff and Jeremy Wolf, uncover the lesser-known complexities of bunion and hammertoe surgeries on the LMD Podiatry Podcast. Dr. Lauren, with her expert knowledge, walks us through not only the functional benefits but also the aesthetically pleasing results of correcting foot misalignments. She further reveals the life-changing nature of flat foot reconstruction surgeries, where pain relief and restored alignment converge to improve patients' quality of life.
Our discussion then pivots to the nitty-gritty of podiatric surgical logistics. Dr. Lauren sheds light on which procedures are deftly performed in-office using local anesthesia and which necessitate the more controlled setting of an operating room. We also explore the breakthroughs in minimally invasive techniques and how they significantly enhance recovery and overall patient satisfaction. With the integration of advanced imaging technologies for meticulous preoperative planning, Dr. Lauren emphasizes the perpetual advancement of surgical practices aimed at ensuring patients enjoy a pain-free, active lifestyle. Tune in for an enlightening conversation on the cutting edge of podiatry surgery, where each step forward is a step toward optimal foot health.
To learn more, visit: LMDpodiatry.com or contact (954) 680-7133
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the LMD Podiatry Podcast.
Trust us to get back on yourfeet.
Here's your host, Dr LaurenDeBakeroff.
Jeremy Wolf (00:15):
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode
of the LMD Podiatry Podcast.
I'm your co-host, Jeremy Wolf,joined by your host, Dr Lauren D
.
Dr Lauren, always a pleasure,Thank you for having me.
Oh, thank you for having me.
It's your show.
Come on, Get on out of here.
Get on here.
So today we're going to talk alittle bit about surgery, and I
(00:35):
know that most podiatrists dosome kind of surgeries not all,
but I know that's part of whatyou do is getting in there in
the operating room and takingcare of helping some people
through surgical procedures.
So what are some of the mostcommon surgeries typically done
by podiatrists?
Lauren Dabakaroff (00:52):
So the most common podiatry surgeries that
we do are bunion surgery andhammer toe surgery.
Hammer toes are crooked toes.
Hammer toe surgery is tostraighten them.
Hammer toe surgery Hammer toesare crooked toes.
Hammer toe surgery is tostraighten them.
Bunions is when you know yourjoint is out of alignment and
(01:13):
then we realign the joints andrealign the foot so you have a
nice, straight, beautiful foot.
So bunion surgeries and hammertoes are amongst the common.
The more advanced surgeriesthat are going on today are your
flat foot reconstructionsurgeries.
Today are your flat footreconstruction surgeries.
Basically, if patients have alot of pain and everything
failed, then there are amazingsurgeries and different
techniques to realign the footand put your foot, make your
(01:37):
foot straight, so you don't haveany pain anymore.
Jeremy Wolf (01:41):
Flat foot.
What was it?
Reconstruction?
So you're actually getting inthere and you're like what,
creating the arch on the on thefoot, and like moving.
What does that entail?
Lauren Dabakaroff (01:54):
I mean, it depends.
There's different.
Every surgery is well thoughtout and planned.
You look at the x-rays.
You measure all the angles thefoot.
If the toes are sticking outwith your flat foot, so you can,
you put an implant in the heelbone.
Or if the heel bone iscompletely crooked and that's
what's causing your flat foot,so we realign the heel bone.
(02:17):
There's different techniques Ifthis angle is off, you put an
implant, or you fuse this jointor you fuse that joint.
There's all these differenttechniques to help with
realigning the foot andreconstructing the foot.
Jeremy Wolf (02:30):
So now, these types of surgeries that you're going
through the flat footreconstruction, the bunion
surgeries are these allprocedures that you're doing
outpatient, out of the office,or are you doing these in your
office?
Lauren Dabakaroff (02:43):
So the bigger surgeries like your flat floor
reconstructions and jointfusions and things like that, I
do them in the operating room.
Okay, it's better that patientsare asleep for that, under
anesthesia, because those youdon't want to hear what I'm
doing.
And then for I do do some minorprocedures in the office.
(03:04):
I do hammer toe surgery in theoffice.
If it's one or two toes, I willdo them in my office under
local anesthesia.
There are also many minimallyinvasive techniques to help
realign the toes that are easyto do in the office.
So that's definitely a greatadvance in technology in that
sense.
Some I know, some I don't know.
(03:26):
That's the whole point of beingany type of surgeon or doctor.
You have to.
You know, if you didn't learnit in your residency, you have
to like keep up with everyone.
So there's definitely coursesall year long and I'm trying to
make all my patients happy.
So we're going to learneverything that we need to keep
everything pain-free andminimally invasive.
Jeremy Wolf (03:47):
Yes, that's what we like.
Now I was going to ask you alittle bit more about that.
Obviously, when the option isavailable for minimally invasive
surgery, that's optimal thangoing into the full-blown
operating room.
How are some of these advancedimaging technologies?
I know you said you do a lot ofprep work and you try to figure
out the best way to solve someof these issues.
How are some of the advancedimaging technologies improving
(04:09):
the preoperative planning andoutcomes in surgery that you've
seen as of late?
Lauren Dabakaroff (04:14):
So that's more, for you can get a 3D CT of
the foot when you're trying toplan your surgery and basically
it's just on the program.
You could just see thepatient's whole entire foot
bones in three dimensions andyou could scroll around and see
piece the puzzle together of howto fix their foot.
(04:35):
So you know these 3D imageshelp a lot with advanced
preparing ahead of time for yoursurgeries and helping you
figure out what's the bestoption for that patient.
Mris are also good for planningas well.
It is also a three-dimensionalimage as well.
Mri is great for like softtissue reconstruction, to see
(04:58):
where the tendons and the jointsare, and things like that.
Jeremy Wolf (05:04):
I was just going to say something.
I lost my train of thought.
It was it'll come back to me.
Let me ask you another questionand then maybe it'll come back
to me.
So, what's on the horizon right?
When are we going?
When am I going to have anissue with my foot?
Let's say I get like gangreneand they normally would need to
amputate the foot.
When are we going to have a new3d printing machine that's
going to print me out a new foot?
(05:25):
When is that coming?
What's?
What's the latest and greatest?
What's on?
Lauren Dabakaroff (05:27):
the horizon we actually have people are 3d
printing bones.
Jeremy Wolf (05:32):
I was just tongue in cheek, joking about that.
Lauren Dabakaroff (05:41):
So people are 3d printing like bones instead,
because we sometimes, whenpeople need to have an arthritic
joint and they don't want tofuse it and you want to replace
the bone instead of using like acadaver bone, you literally 3d
print like one of your anklebones and put it inside your
foot and it's been workingreally really well, just that
easy, just put it yeah, I don'tdo that yet I'm not like in a
(06:04):
hospital that has all that fancystuff, but it's definitely out
there.
There are a lot of advancedtechniques that we're doing.
Jeremy Wolf (06:12):
What else.
So I was going to, it came tome.
It came to me, so I was goingto ask when you're doing these
procedures in the more advancedprocedures where you're using 3d
imaging and things like that,are you doing that a hundred
percent manually or is there anyassistance from like robot
technology in these surgeries?
How does that work?
Lauren Dabakaroff (06:33):
So podiatry does not have robotics, robotic
surgery.
Jeremy Wolf (06:38):
No no.
Okay, I got my, no my mind isjust going way into the future.
I have a curious mind.
Lauren Dabakaroff (06:44):
They do it for urology, like the bladder
and things like that, but insurgery we just use our hands,
grab a knife, some sutures anduse hardware just like an
orthopedist very similar to whatthey do.
Jeremy Wolf (07:00):
Well, I for one hope I never have to see you in
the operating room.
As much as I love you, I don'twant to see you looming over me
with a knife.
Lauren Dabakaroff (07:09):
I was going to say.
I wanted to mention that one ofthe most common surgeries that
I have been performing is thelapiplasty surgery.
Jeremy Wolf (07:15):
It's a 3D bunion Back up a second.
Lauren Dabakaroff (07:18):
Lapiplasty.
It's called the lapiplasty 3Dbunion.
Correction Okay.
Do tell, elaborate.
So I was going to mention thatthere is a surgery it's called
the lapidus surgery andbasically it's been done for
decades.
But throughout the years theyrealized that there's throughout
(07:40):
the surgery, the surgicaltechnique, there's always like
hiccups along the way that'saffecting the way you do the
surgery and it prolongs thesurgical time and things like
that.
So there's this company thatcreated Lapffey Plasty and
Laffey Plasty it has all thesegadgets basically to help you
realign the bunion, with theright angles and measurements
(08:02):
and things like that.
It makes the surgery likeeasier, faster, swifter, and
they have these special platesthat can allow early weight
bearing, whereas the old surgeryyou'd have to be in crutches
for six to eight weeks, whereasnow you can put your foot down
as early as two weeks and somesurgeons actually put your foot
(08:25):
down within a few days.
I don't do that.
That's the beauty of the newhardware that's out there.
I just wanted to give you oneexample of an updated surgical
technique that's very commontoday.
Jeremy Wolf (08:37):
All right, very, very cool.
So I should say let me prefacethat, as much as I don't want to
have to go in to get surgery,if I ever do need surgery I'm
coming to see you because youhelped me tremendously with my
running endeavors.
You gave me some support.
I was having a pain in my footand guess what, it's gone.
I actually ran nine and a halfmiles a couple of weeks ago,
approaching half marathon.
(08:57):
I need to start with one for me,and no pain in the feet anymore
.
The pain now is in my knees andmy hips and my back right, so
we're making progress, ohgoodness, all right.
Anything else you wanted totouch upon before we wrap this
one up?
Lauren Dabakaroff (09:14):
If, you have pain or you don't like the way
your foot looks, whether it's abunion, a hammer toe, if you
have ankle pain, hind foot pain,you need to get an x-ray.
You need to come and see me.
Just an x-ray gives a whole.
A basic x-ray of your footgives a whole plethora of
information about why patientshave foot pain and why their
(09:37):
foot looks the way that it does,and there's both invasive and
minimally invasive proceduresthat can help it all, all of it.
So it really.
But every surgery is reliant oneverybody's foot, ankles and
imaging and things like that,and you want to do what's best
for the patient based on theirage and their medical history
(09:58):
and things like that.
Jeremy Wolf (10:00):
All right, very good, you hear that.
Everyone out there Go see DrDeBakeroff, go get your feet
checked out.
Most of us I could probablyspeak for most people they don't
go get routine checkups at thepodiatrist.
They wait until there's anactual problem.
There's nothing wrong withgoing in just to get a checkup
and just to get checked out tosee how you're doing.
As we say, the ounce ofprevention is worth a pound of
cure.
I'm saying that a lot lately.
Lauren Dabakaroff (10:21):
I like it.
Yeah, ounce of prevention isworth a pound of cure, I like
that.
Jeremy Wolf (10:25):
So go see Dr DeBakaroff get it done.
All right, and you also helpedout my stepmother.
She was having some severeissues with her foot and she
came in to see you and she'sgiving rave reviews.
Lauren Dabakaroff (10:36):
Thank you, dr Lauren for taking care of her.
Jeremy Wolf (10:40):
I appreciate it.
All right, everyone.
Thanks for tuning in and wewill catch you all next time on
the next episode of the LMDPodiatry Podcast.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Everyone, take care and have a wonderful day thank
you for listening to the lmdpodiatry podcast.
For more information, visit lmdpodiatrycom.
That's lmd podiatrycom or call954-680-7133.
Welcome to the LMD Podiatry Podcast.
Trust us to get back on yourfeet.
Here's your host, Dr LaurenDeBakeroff.
Jeremy Wolf (00:15):
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode
of the LMD Podiatry Podcast.
I'm your co-host, Jeremy Wolf,joined by your host, Dr Lauren D
.
Dr Lauren, always a pleasure,Thank you for having me.
Oh, thank you for having me.
It's your show.
Come on, Get on out of here.
Get on here.
So today we're going to talk alittle bit about surgery, and I
(00:35):
know that most podiatrists dosome kind of surgeries not all,
but I know that's part of whatyou do is getting in there in
the operating room and takingcare of helping some people
through surgical procedures.
So what are some of the mostcommon surgeries typically done
by podiatrists?
Lauren Dabakaroff (00:52):
So the most common podiatry surgeries that
we do are bunion surgery andhammer toe surgery.
Hammer toes are crooked toes.
Hammer toe surgery is tostraighten them.
Hammer toe surgery Hammer toesare crooked toes.
Hammer toe surgery is tostraighten them.
Bunions is when you know yourjoint is out of alignment and
(01:13):
then we realign the joints andrealign the foot so you have a
nice, straight, beautiful foot.
So bunion surgeries and hammertoes are amongst the common.
The more advanced surgeriesthat are going on today are your
flat foot reconstructionsurgeries.
Today are your flat footreconstruction surgeries.
Basically, if patients have alot of pain and everything
failed, then there are amazingsurgeries and different
techniques to realign the footand put your foot, make your
(01:37):
foot straight, so you don't haveany pain anymore.
Jeremy Wolf (01:41):
Flat foot.
What was it?
Reconstruction?
So you're actually getting inthere and you're like what,
creating the arch on the on thefoot, and like moving.
What does that entail?
Lauren Dabakaroff (01:54):
I mean, it depends.
There's different.
Every surgery is well thoughtout and planned.
You look at the x-rays.
You measure all the angles thefoot.
If the toes are sticking outwith your flat foot, so you can,
you put an implant in the heelbone.
Or if the heel bone iscompletely crooked and that's
what's causing your flat foot,so we realign the heel bone.
(02:17):
There's different techniques Ifthis angle is off, you put an
implant, or you fuse this jointor you fuse that joint.
There's all these differenttechniques to help with
realigning the foot andreconstructing the foot.
Jeremy Wolf (02:30):
So now, these types of surgeries that you're going
through the flat footreconstruction, the bunion
surgeries are these allprocedures that you're doing
outpatient, out of the office,or are you doing these in your
office?
Lauren Dabakaroff (02:43):
So the bigger surgeries like your flat floor
reconstructions and jointfusions and things like that, I
do them in the operating room.
Okay, it's better that patientsare asleep for that, under
anesthesia, because those youdon't want to hear what I'm
doing.
And then for I do do some minorprocedures in the office.
(03:04):
I do hammer toe surgery in theoffice.
If it's one or two toes, I willdo them in my office under
local anesthesia.
There are also many minimallyinvasive techniques to help
realign the toes that are easyto do in the office.
So that's definitely a greatadvance in technology in that
sense.
Some I know, some I don't know.
(03:26):
That's the whole point of beingany type of surgeon or doctor.
You have to.
You know, if you didn't learnit in your residency, you have
to like keep up with everyone.
So there's definitely coursesall year long and I'm trying to
make all my patients happy.
So we're going to learneverything that we need to keep
everything pain-free andminimally invasive.
Jeremy Wolf (03:47):
Yes, that's what we like.
Now I was going to ask you alittle bit more about that.
Obviously, when the option isavailable for minimally invasive
surgery, that's optimal thangoing into the full-blown
operating room.
How are some of these advancedimaging technologies?
I know you said you do a lot ofprep work and you try to figure
out the best way to solve someof these issues.
How are some of the advancedimaging technologies improving
(04:09):
the preoperative planning andoutcomes in surgery that you've
seen as of late?
Lauren Dabakaroff (04:14):
So that's more, for you can get a 3D CT of
the foot when you're trying toplan your surgery and basically
it's just on the program.
You could just see thepatient's whole entire foot
bones in three dimensions andyou could scroll around and see
piece the puzzle together of howto fix their foot.
(04:35):
So you know these 3D imageshelp a lot with advanced
preparing ahead of time for yoursurgeries and helping you
figure out what's the bestoption for that patient.
Mris are also good for planningas well.
It is also a three-dimensionalimage as well.
Mri is great for like softtissue reconstruction, to see
(04:58):
where the tendons and the jointsare, and things like that.
Jeremy Wolf (05:04):
I was just going to say something.
I lost my train of thought.
It was it'll come back to me.
Let me ask you another questionand then maybe it'll come back
to me.
So, what's on the horizon right?
When are we going?
When am I going to have anissue with my foot?
Let's say I get like gangreneand they normally would need to
amputate the foot.
When are we going to have a new3d printing machine that's
going to print me out a new foot?
(05:25):
When is that coming?
What's?
What's the latest and greatest?
What's on?
Lauren Dabakaroff (05:27):
the horizon we actually have people are 3d
printing bones.
Jeremy Wolf (05:32):
I was just tongue in cheek, joking about that.
Lauren Dabakaroff (05:41):
So people are 3d printing like bones instead,
because we sometimes, whenpeople need to have an arthritic
joint and they don't want tofuse it and you want to replace
the bone instead of using like acadaver bone, you literally 3d
print like one of your anklebones and put it inside your
foot and it's been workingreally really well, just that
easy, just put it yeah, I don'tdo that yet I'm not like in a
(06:04):
hospital that has all that fancystuff, but it's definitely out
there.
There are a lot of advancedtechniques that we're doing.
Jeremy Wolf (06:12):
What else.
So I was going to, it came tome.
It came to me, so I was goingto ask when you're doing these
procedures in the more advancedprocedures where you're using 3d
imaging and things like that,are you doing that a hundred
percent manually or is there anyassistance from like robot
technology in these surgeries?
How does that work?
Lauren Dabakaroff (06:33):
So podiatry does not have robotics, robotic
surgery.
Jeremy Wolf (06:38):
No no.
Okay, I got my, no my mind isjust going way into the future.
I have a curious mind.
Lauren Dabakaroff (06:44):
They do it for urology, like the bladder
and things like that, but insurgery we just use our hands,
grab a knife, some sutures anduse hardware just like an
orthopedist very similar to whatthey do.
Jeremy Wolf (07:00):
Well, I for one hope I never have to see you in
the operating room.
As much as I love you, I don'twant to see you looming over me
with a knife.
Lauren Dabakaroff (07:09):
I was going to say.
I wanted to mention that one ofthe most common surgeries that
I have been performing is thelapiplasty surgery.
Jeremy Wolf (07:15):
It's a 3D bunion Back up a second.
Lauren Dabakaroff (07:18):
Lapiplasty.
It's called the lapiplasty 3Dbunion.
Correction Okay.
Do tell, elaborate.
So I was going to mention thatthere is a surgery it's called
the lapidus surgery andbasically it's been done for
decades.
But throughout the years theyrealized that there's throughout
(07:40):
the surgery, the surgicaltechnique, there's always like
hiccups along the way that'saffecting the way you do the
surgery and it prolongs thesurgical time and things like
that.
So there's this company thatcreated Lapffey Plasty and
Laffey Plasty it has all thesegadgets basically to help you
realign the bunion, with theright angles and measurements
(08:02):
and things like that.
It makes the surgery likeeasier, faster, swifter, and
they have these special platesthat can allow early weight
bearing, whereas the old surgeryyou'd have to be in crutches
for six to eight weeks, whereasnow you can put your foot down
as early as two weeks and somesurgeons actually put your foot
(08:25):
down within a few days.
I don't do that.
That's the beauty of the newhardware that's out there.
I just wanted to give you oneexample of an updated surgical
technique that's very commontoday.
Jeremy Wolf (08:37):
All right, very, very cool.
So I should say let me prefacethat, as much as I don't want to
have to go in to get surgery,if I ever do need surgery I'm
coming to see you because youhelped me tremendously with my
running endeavors.
You gave me some support.
I was having a pain in my footand guess what, it's gone.
I actually ran nine and a halfmiles a couple of weeks ago,
approaching half marathon.
(08:57):
I need to start with one for me,and no pain in the feet anymore
.
The pain now is in my knees andmy hips and my back right, so
we're making progress, ohgoodness, all right.
Anything else you wanted totouch upon before we wrap this
one up?
Lauren Dabakaroff (09:14):
If, you have pain or you don't like the way
your foot looks, whether it's abunion, a hammer toe, if you
have ankle pain, hind foot pain,you need to get an x-ray.
You need to come and see me.
Just an x-ray gives a whole.
A basic x-ray of your footgives a whole plethora of
information about why patientshave foot pain and why their
(09:37):
foot looks the way that it does,and there's both invasive and
minimally invasive proceduresthat can help it all, all of it.
So it really.
But every surgery is reliant oneverybody's foot, ankles and
imaging and things like that,and you want to do what's best
for the patient based on theirage and their medical history
(09:58):
and things like that.
Jeremy Wolf (10:00):
All right, very good, you hear that.
Everyone out there Go see DrDeBakeroff, go get your feet
checked out.
Most of us I could probablyspeak for most people they don't
go get routine checkups at thepodiatrist.
They wait until there's anactual problem.
There's nothing wrong withgoing in just to get a checkup
and just to get checked out tosee how you're doing.
As we say, the ounce ofprevention is worth a pound of
cure.
I'm saying that a lot lately.
Lauren Dabakaroff (10:21):
I like it.
Yeah, ounce of prevention isworth a pound of cure, I like
that.
Jeremy Wolf (10:25):
So go see Dr DeBakaroff get it done.
All right, and you also helpedout my stepmother.
She was having some severeissues with her foot and she
came in to see you and she'sgiving rave reviews.
Lauren Dabakaroff (10:36):
Thank you, dr Lauren for taking care of her.
Jeremy Wolf (10:40):
I appreciate it.
All right, everyone.
Thanks for tuning in and wewill catch you all next time on
the next episode of the LMDPodiatry Podcast.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Everyone, take care and have a wonderful day thank
you for listening to the lmdpodiatry podcast.
For more information, visit lmdpodiatrycom.
That's lmd podiatrycom or call954-680-7133.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.