The importance of seeing your primary care doctor every 6 to 12 months is common knowledge, but what about seeing a podiatrist? While most people might think that you would only need a podiatrist if you have an excruciating or debilitating foot or ankle issue, podiatrists treat such a wide range of issues from mild discomfort to severe conditions. Even something as seemingly simple as an infected ingrown toenail is important to address with a podiatrist!
Primary care doctors often do not specialize in anything besides general medicine, and as a result, will refer you to a specialist for more complex issues. Do you have a weird, nagging pain in your heel? What about recurrent ingrown toenails? How about pain in the balls of your feet after your morning jog? No matter how small it may seem, any and all foot or ankle pain is important enough to see a podiatrist.
A podiatrist is a medical foot care specialist. Here are the three reasons a podiatrist stands out when it comes to your foot and ankle care:
Podiatrists spend four additional years studying podiatric medicine in a post-graduate residency program to gain specialized training and experience.
Before becoming a full-fledged podiatrist, they must pass a national and state examination to gain license to practice in the state of their choosing.
If you come across a podiatrist that offers surgical intervention, this means they continued their education even further to become certified by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery.
Each of these steps requires hard work, commitment, and expertise. If these three reasons alone aren’t impressive enough, we don’t know what is! Foot and ankle pain can really dampen our everyday lives, and there’s no reason why not to go get it treated by the foot pros. Podiatrist Dr. Michele Kurlanski at Lighthouse Foot and Ankle Center has dedicated her life to helping improve yours! Call us today at (207) 774-0028 to schedule an appointment with us at our office in Scarborough, Maine. Be sure to visit our in-office podiatry store for a two-birds-one-stone experience!