Welcome to the personal website of

Dr. Michael A. Zapf, DPM, MPH, FACFAS, FACFAOM

Thank you for visiting the web site of Dr. Michael Zapf. He is a member of the Agoura-Los Robles Podiatry Centers

The "real" practice web site, the one that contains registration forms, doctor information for all the office and directions to the office is located at:

www.conejofeet.com   ç Click here

I am Dr. Michael Zapf. I have been offering a full range of podiatric medical services, from ingrown nails to heel pain and foot surgery, to my friends and neighbors in the Las Virgenes, Conejo and Simi Valleys since 1985. This is my personal web site. It has been up since 1990 and has received more than 2 million visits. The entire site is my responsibility only and nearly everything on the site was written by me. You are welcome to peruse this site and learn what you can about me, your feet and the problems your feet can develop. Things happen fast in medicine so whatever you read could well be outdated, especially if it was written many years ago. On this site you will read historic articles that I wrote for a lay audience as long as 25 years ago, so please do not take anything on this site as definitive or as applying directly to your condition. You may wonder why I have my own site even though there is also an official practice site. Well, my partners are of a younger generation raised on tweets, e-mails and iPhones. They want a professional site that they believe better represents the professional nature of our practice. They also believe that people no longer take the time to read anything of length. I, on the other foot, think there is still a world out there full of people who still read lengthy descriptions of problems and solutions. if you are one of those old fashioned readers, then this site if for you. Let me know what you think. Let me know you are out there.

Please note that all information and photographs on this site are copyrighted by me, Michael Zapf, DPM, and cannot be used for any private or commercial purposes. I work with two other podiatrists in my practice who may or may not share any of my ideas and philosophy. Do not expect them to practice the way I do or even believe in any of the speculation I present here. If you appreciate what I have written and want me to be your treating doctor, you will have to ask for me specifically. Even if my office says at first, " He is booked until next month",  I still want to see you as long as you are a little flexible with your schedule. If your visit is an emergency, I know that  you will be happy with either of my associates, Dr. Darren Payne or Dr. Steve Benson. They are exceedingly well trained and capable in any foot emergency.

Michael Zapf, DPM, MPH, FACFAS, FACFAOM     (If you want to know what all those initials mean, click here   è  

Our office phone number is (818) 707-3668 and my e-mail address is zfootdoc [at] doctor [dot] com

Agoura Hills Office: 28240 Agoura Road, Suite 101, Agoura Hills, CA 91301

Thousand Oaks Office: 555 Marin Street, Suite 290, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360

For the address, hours and registration forms please see the practice web site: www.conejofeet.com

07/24/2010

To Order Foot Supplies è ç click

For Information about Laser Treatment for Fungal Nails Click hereè
 

For information about Shockwave Therapy for heel pain          click here è

Exciting news!!! New Thousand Oaks Location  è

ACORN February 1994

Surgery And Its Related Fears

By: Michael Zapf, DPM, MPH, and FACFAOM

            Surgery is always a little more stressful than seeing patients in the office. Outside circumstances can increase the stress. Surgery on a seven-month-old baby is one such circumstance. The entire foot fits into the palm of your hand and a one-inch incision covers almost half of the foot. Another stress increaser is doing surgery on a colleague or their relatives. I have performed surgery on physicians, chiropractors, their spouses and, last week, even a doctor’s mom. Well, two weeks ago I had the ultimate in stressful surgical patients: my mother-in-law.

     Actually, I am being overly dramatic. My mother-in-law, Lorraine, is very sweet and kind and we have a great relationship. Using the old dreaded mother-in-law line just seemed like a good way to open the article. We get to see Lorraine and her husband, Ed, a lot more often since they decided to spend the winters in Palm Desert instead of Chicago. We bribe them to visit as often as possible using their grandson, Christopher.

   For a long time Lorraine has had a painful bump on the inside of her big toe. It is caused by a bone spur (called an exostosis in medical lingo) on the toe. The spur causes a big callus to develop on the skin where the big toe rubs against the second toe. This callus is surprisingly large and painful and hurts virtually every time Lorraine wears shoes.

     Several years ago she had it “fixed” by a doctor in Chicago. He made a little incision in the skin and, with a high-speed burr, tried to shave down the bump. This sounds simple and it usually is. Something went a bit awry with Lorraine’s procedure. Inexplicably the doctor put he high-speed burr into the toe bone, instead of against her spur.  Instead of shaving down the spur, he made a large hole right in the bone. This not only did not solve her problem, but it caused some degeneration of the toe joint itself.

    We fixed this problem easily enough. In the office, under local anesthesia, I removed the spur. I also used a tiny incision, but instead of a high-speed burr, I used a little hand rasp. I have always felt that it is risky to poke a high-speed burr into a blind hole in the foot. With the high-speed burr technique, the surgeon cannot see what is happening under the skin. He or she just does the surgery by feel. With a hand held rasp you have much greater control over what you are doing. All you sacrifice is a few minutes of time for a bone spur removal. I find that most little spurs on toes bones can be removed this way.

    Some doctors use a high-speed burr to fix more complex problems, like bunions. Under the banner “minimal incision surgery” or “lunch time surgery” these practitioners advertise that they can repair most foot deformities in this manner. I hear that when it works, it is a useful procedure for the right patient. But when things go wrong with a high-speed burr, they can go very wrong. Most foot surgeons are happier doing surgery the “old fashioned way” by opening the tissues and actually seeing what they are doing.

   Lorraine’s surgery went perfectly. I needed only one stitch to close her incision and she recuperated at our house over the weekend. She only needed one Tylenol for pain. I removed the stitch when we made a house call to the desert the following weekend. She is now wearing regular shoes with much greater comfort than she has known for years.  We will know for sure how well we did when we see her Christmas letter next winter. Keep your fingers crossed.

Send mail to (zfootdoc at doctor dot com) with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2000 Michael A. Zapf, D.P.M., F.A.C.F.A.S., F.A.C.F.AOA.M.
Last modified: July 24, 2010