When the Westside Podiatry Center in Skaneateles welcomed Daniel Ferreras, D.P.M., to its staff one month ago, they welcomed an invaluable source of information on a massive medical plight.
Jason Rearick / The Citizen
Dr. Daniel Ferreras reaches for the scissors to finish Joe Bowden's dressing after surgery on his ingrown toenail at Westside Podiatry Center's office in Skaneateles. Ferreras is the newest addition to Westside Podiatry.
Dr. Daniel Ferreras reaches for the scissors to finish Joe Bowden's dressing after surgery on his ingrown toenail at Westside Podiatry Center's office in Skaneateles. Ferreras is the newest addition to Westside Podiatry.
Ferreras completed his fellowship at St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers in diabetic wound care, an area of podiatry vital to a population with a rising rate of developing diabetes. More than 20.8 million Americans are diabetic, with 54 million additional Americans falling into a pre-diabetic category marked by high blood sugar.
“It's just staggering,” Ferreras said of the statistics.
The rate of diabetes balloons within the 65-and-older demographic that also comprises the bulk of Ferreras' patients at the center on 27 Fennell St. He estimates up to 65 percent are either diabetic or susceptible to the disease, which bears dire ramifications with respect to podiatry.
Approximately 30 percent of diabetic adults suffer from impaired sensation in the feet due to nerve damage. That complication is responsible for patients who present Ferreras with large ulcers on their feet without having noticed them prior to their visit. He also attributes this common scene at his office to a philosophy of living with foot pain that pervades older generations.
“They don't go to the doctor until it's too late,” Ferreras said.
Such delays in seeking care often lead to amputation of the foot or lower leg. Roughly 60 percent of all non-traumatic lower limb loss is precipitated by diabetes. Ferreras has made it his mission to dampen that statistic one patient at a time.
“Imagine if we don't have to amputate that limb - that man can play sports or that woman can go to the grocery store,” Ferreras said.
Because he is bilingual in Spanish and English, Ferreras is also equipped to deal with Mexican-American and Puerto Rican patients. The rate of diabetes within those two populations doubles that of Caucasians.
Although Ferreras does what he can to fight diabetes from his position as a podiatrist, he encourages his patients to improve their health in a manner that starts at the feet and works its way up.
“I want to empower them to take care of themselves,” Ferreras said. “They need to check their feet daily, visit their primary care physician, the kidney doctor, the eye doctor, and so on.”
Even with proper care from physicians, the patients' health remains largely in their own hands. Nutrition and exercise play key roles in curbing the harmful effects of diabetes, which often concurs with hypertension, high blood pressure and obesity.
With respect to podiatry, patients can even begin improving their health at the mall.
“Most patients lack the knowledge of how to buy a proper-fitting shoe,” Ferreras said. “Usually the salesman will approach you and ask your size. They should be measuring you instead.”
When salesman do measure a customer's foot, they often seat them to take the measurement. As Ferreras explains, the foot drastically changes shape when the weight of a person's body is placed upon it.
“The foot is like a springboard,” he said. “It stretches and splays out when you stand up.”
Tight-fitting shoes often foment the blisters on people's feet through steady friction. If unattended, those blisters can turn to ulcers, which in turn can infect the bones of the feet in a condition known as osteomyelitis. Although amputation is not a common solution among non-diabetics, those with the disease face a greater threat of limb loss because of the nerve damage they've usually endured.
As patients raise their guard against the harmful reach of diabetes, physicians have an equally important role to play in improving the health of their diabetic patients. Ferreras emphasizes a team approach across doctors of different areas of expertise, with the ultimate goal of patient enlightenment in mind.
“I should be talking to endocrinologists, who should be talking to vascular doctors, and so on,” he said.
Although Ferreras brings an expertise in diabetes to the Westside Podiatry Center in Skaneateles, he still deals with a number of foot problems that bear little relation to the disease. Fungal nail infections, his most common case, can often be prevented by cutting out a common luxury: pedicures. They are too typically performed with instruments that haven't been autoclaved, which removes fungi and bacteria through heat and pressure. Tools that pass from customer to customer often come bearing these agents of infection.
“Just clip your nails yourself, Ferreas advises, ”or come to the Westside Podiatry Center and we'll do it for you.“
Staff writer David Wilcox can be contacted at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
“It's just staggering,” Ferreras said of the statistics.
The rate of diabetes balloons within the 65-and-older demographic that also comprises the bulk of Ferreras' patients at the center on 27 Fennell St. He estimates up to 65 percent are either diabetic or susceptible to the disease, which bears dire ramifications with respect to podiatry.
Approximately 30 percent of diabetic adults suffer from impaired sensation in the feet due to nerve damage. That complication is responsible for patients who present Ferreras with large ulcers on their feet without having noticed them prior to their visit. He also attributes this common scene at his office to a philosophy of living with foot pain that pervades older generations.
“They don't go to the doctor until it's too late,” Ferreras said.
Such delays in seeking care often lead to amputation of the foot or lower leg. Roughly 60 percent of all non-traumatic lower limb loss is precipitated by diabetes. Ferreras has made it his mission to dampen that statistic one patient at a time.
“Imagine if we don't have to amputate that limb - that man can play sports or that woman can go to the grocery store,” Ferreras said.
Because he is bilingual in Spanish and English, Ferreras is also equipped to deal with Mexican-American and Puerto Rican patients. The rate of diabetes within those two populations doubles that of Caucasians.
Although Ferreras does what he can to fight diabetes from his position as a podiatrist, he encourages his patients to improve their health in a manner that starts at the feet and works its way up.
“I want to empower them to take care of themselves,” Ferreras said. “They need to check their feet daily, visit their primary care physician, the kidney doctor, the eye doctor, and so on.”
Even with proper care from physicians, the patients' health remains largely in their own hands. Nutrition and exercise play key roles in curbing the harmful effects of diabetes, which often concurs with hypertension, high blood pressure and obesity.
With respect to podiatry, patients can even begin improving their health at the mall.
“Most patients lack the knowledge of how to buy a proper-fitting shoe,” Ferreras said. “Usually the salesman will approach you and ask your size. They should be measuring you instead.”
When salesman do measure a customer's foot, they often seat them to take the measurement. As Ferreras explains, the foot drastically changes shape when the weight of a person's body is placed upon it.
“The foot is like a springboard,” he said. “It stretches and splays out when you stand up.”
Tight-fitting shoes often foment the blisters on people's feet through steady friction. If unattended, those blisters can turn to ulcers, which in turn can infect the bones of the feet in a condition known as osteomyelitis. Although amputation is not a common solution among non-diabetics, those with the disease face a greater threat of limb loss because of the nerve damage they've usually endured.
As patients raise their guard against the harmful reach of diabetes, physicians have an equally important role to play in improving the health of their diabetic patients. Ferreras emphasizes a team approach across doctors of different areas of expertise, with the ultimate goal of patient enlightenment in mind.
“I should be talking to endocrinologists, who should be talking to vascular doctors, and so on,” he said.
Although Ferreras brings an expertise in diabetes to the Westside Podiatry Center in Skaneateles, he still deals with a number of foot problems that bear little relation to the disease. Fungal nail infections, his most common case, can often be prevented by cutting out a common luxury: pedicures. They are too typically performed with instruments that haven't been autoclaved, which removes fungi and bacteria through heat and pressure. Tools that pass from customer to customer often come bearing these agents of infection.
“Just clip your nails yourself, Ferreas advises, ”or come to the Westside Podiatry Center and we'll do it for you.“
Staff writer David Wilcox can be contacted at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
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