Choosing a Surgeon

How to Choose the Right Surgeon to Do Your Operation

Doctors of Podiatric Medicine (DPMs) Dr. Richard R. Moy

Finding a Highly Qualified DPM is within reach. Doctors of Podiatric Medicine (DPMs) are specialists of the foot and ankle.dr-moy Some specialize in conservative care while others mainly focus on performing foot surgery. They are unmatched in their understanding of the foot’s biomechanics. The value of podiatry,” UCSF Center for the Health Professions Executive Director Edward H. O’Neil, PhD wrote in 1996, “is manifested in the intense knowledge and expertise in care of the foot, something no other profession can avow.”

Many DPMs specialize in foot pain relief, foot care, cosmetic foot surgery, and preservation of the diabetic foot. DPMs also assist other doctors in non-podiatric surgeries, because of their special skills and doctor-patient relationships. DPMs are the only medical specialty limited to its area of expertise by the license itself, an innovation the profession embraced decades ago to enhance patient protection. They also are the only doctors in California required to do two-years of postgraduate training prior to licensure. Then, at each two-year license renewal, DPMs must meet peer-reviewed continuing competence requirements, over and above continuing medical education, for an additional level of safety that the profession recommended to the Legislature in 1998. Higher standards help prevent patient harm, and DPMs support this commitment by paying a higher licensing fees. This fee is more than other doctors and health care providers pay.

Foot and Ankle Surgery in Southern California from Dr. Moy

DPMs graduate from one of seven podiatric medical schools (an eighth is in process of being approved), which are specialized four-year medical schools affiliated with larger health science teaching centers. While providing general medical training, they concentrate on the eventual specialty and other areas of medicine most related. Each of the schools and subsequent graduate medical education programs (2-3 years duration) required thereafter must be approved by the Council on Podiatric Medical Education (CPME), which is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for accrediting the schools.

Prior to initial licensure, DPMs also must pass Parts I, II and III of the exams administered by the Educational Testing Service for the National Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners. On the recommendation of the profession’s state association, California requires a Part III passing score higher than the national passing score as an added measure of quality for Californians.

Get Foot Pain Relief from a Highly Skilled DPM Like Dr. Moy Today

Many individuals provide foot care, but only licensed doctors (MDs, DPMs, or DOs) may diagnose, treat, and prescribe for medical conditions. Among doctors, none receive more intensive foot and ankle surgery training or meet higher licensure and renewal requirements than DPMs.

In medical literature, there are over 100 different documented ways on how to perform bunion removal. In fact, there happens to be more ways to perform bunion removal than on any other given part of the body.

You then have to ask yourself a question: Why are there so many ways to remove this bump off the side of my foot? I believe the answer to the question is this: Over the years, surgeons have been very unhappy with their patients’ recovery process and outcome of this procedure, so they are constantly trying to improve their results and outcome.

Dr. Moy’s Procedure

Dr. Moy has created a procedure that has withstood the test of time, and obtained a result that is virtually pain free. With this procedure, your foot can be restored to normal function without the bunion reoccurring.

  • It involves surgery right at the bunion site to remove the bump, repositioning of the bone, and reduction of the deforming forces that created the bunion.
  • The internal fixation, which is a screw, compresses or holds the bone together securely. This allows the bone to heal rapidly and provides solid stability to the surgical area.  Due to the painless nature of the procedure and the stability of the bone, patients are able to walk immediately.
  • Be very cautious on allowing a doctor to perform surgery that is up near the mid arch of your foot (lapidus or base wedge procedures). This type of procedure has significant inherent potential risks and complications, and will force you to be non-weight bearing on that area for 6 to 8 weeks.
  • The tight rope or IM banding is not a bunion procedure.  It is an adjunctive step to any bunion procedure.  When indicated we will implement this adjunctive step.

The more frequently a doctor performs a given procedure the better they are likely to become at it. The results that the doctor achieves can be improved upon based on the findings that they see after performing a number of surgeries.

After performing thousands of procedures in one given area the doctor can predict full outcome and recovery process with a high degree of accuracy.

Getting a reference from a patient is by far one of the best ways to make a decision in choosing a doctor. A former patient has first hand experience with going through the process of surgery with that doctor.

We believe it’s imperative that you not get the opinion of one patient, but multiple patients and collectively look at the results as a whole.

Dr. Moy wants you to utilize this website as an opportunity to talk to patients, as well as listen to their stories. We have nearly 100 patients video-taped and well over 1,000 evaluations for your review!

Credentials Do Not Equal Results

Patients should concentrate on looking at the results of the procedures that the surgeon performs.

The patient should be looking at the amount of pain or discomfort, medications that the doctor prescribes and the ability or inability of that patient to be mobile after surgery in terms of walking, standing, driving their cars, physical activity, etc. Ask these questions and get solid answers before making your decision.

A doctor’s credentials are merely academic and social achievements. They are important, but not nearly as important as the results the doctor gets due to his skill and ingenuity in performing surgery.

Credentials such as: being board-certified, president of an association, a member of a prestigious hospital or medical group, writing a textbook or many articles, or being a world-renowned lecturer are all great, but really don’t matter if that surgeon cannot produce consistent and excellent results.

Taking a Family Physician’s Referral

Some patients get referred to a podiatrist by their primary care doctor or family physician. Just because you have a good rapport with your family physician does not necessarily mean that the doctor he is referring you to is the best doctor to treat that condition. He may know of this individual as a friend, a colleague, or a business partner, but it doesn’t mean they are experts in bunion removal.

There are multiple reasons why doctors send their patients to other doctors, but it may not necessarily mean that the particular doctor is the right one for your condition.

Basing Decisions on Prestige Alone

A lot of patients choose surgeons based on of the prestige of the doctor’s reputation with the facility or medical board that he/she is associated with. Again, it’s not the facility, it’s the individual doctor that produces the results.

Focus on the doctor and the results they produce, along with what their patients and colleagues have to say.

Flights to Southern California are plentiful and often priced reasonably

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Rental cars are available in abundance and our freeways are among the best in the world!

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