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 Things happen fast in medicine so whatever you read could well be outdated, especially if it was written many years ago.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

Dear Dr. Zapf,

To begin with: I am a man (age: 36) living in Holland and just discovered your web site. My story is the following: I bruised my left foot very badly about 4,5 months ago due to a heavy fall in my own home. First I went to the First Aid (they did nothing because my foot was swollen), after 2 weeks my own doctor examined my foot (the bunion was already visible) but didn't do anything, after almost 2 months I finally got "permission" for an X-Ray (nothing broken, no furthermore comment), after 2,5 months I went to a second doctor (my complaints were growing : pain in my left hip, muscles hurting, stiffness in my left leg that feels like missing a shock absorber) who finally for the first time diagnosed a Hallux Valgus. I'll had to go to an orthopedist (waiting list: 6 weeks) who "prescribed" me (within 5 minutes) standard (!) orthopedic soles under my shoes (which I'm still waiting for). In the mean time I developed also a beginning of a callus. I'll have a few burning questions for you because I'm getting a bit desperate: - Are there similar podiatric clinics in Europe like yours ?, I cannot find them in Holland and I don't trust a surgeon who operates a foot once a month or so.- Is it possible (as a Dutch citizen) to undergo an operation in your clinic? (my health insurance will never pay for this of course, but money doesn't matter to me, I want to do everything to get my ambulant capacities back). Hope to hear from you soon :),

Sincerely, R van der W.  (once a walker by heart...........)

Dear R.

In America we have a health plans like yours: they are called HMOs. Fortunately, I do not deal with many HMOs. Most all of my patients (or their insurance company) get to pay for their services as they are needed. This is known as Fee For Service and it was once the dominant form of health care in The States. Anyway, back to your bunion.

A few years ago I had the happy occasion to go to a foot surgery seminar in  Bordeaux, France. I met foot surgeons and orthopedic surgeons, from many European countries. I was amazed (not to mention surprised and disappointed) at the methods and techniques they used to fix a bunion. Long hospital stays were the rule and not the exception. In America no one stays in the hospital for a bunion surgery. It is all done as an "out-patient" procedure which means that the patients check into the surgery center an hour before the surgery and leave the building about an hour or tow after the surgery is completed. A surgery center, by the way, is a building with just a pre-operative waiting area, several operating rooms, a post-operative recovery area and a waiting room for relatives. In areas that do not have a Surgery Center (and there are getting to be very few of those) you can do the procedure at the hospital -- also as an "out-patient" without an overnight stay. The European doctors all used general anesthesia. Virtually no podiatrist in the States uses general anesthesia for bunions. Instead an I.V. (intravenous) line is placed in the arm and light sedation is used. While under sedation (also called twilight sleep) local anesthesia is injected into the foot and the procedure is performed. Interestingly in America orthopedic surgeons also perform bunion surgeries. They usually use general anesthesia. The anesthesiologists at the Surgery Center say the reason orthopedists use a general anesthesia is that they (the orthopedists) were not trained to do local anesthetic blocks and do not have confidence in their ability to achieve sufficient anesthesia of the foot to perform the surgery. In my area of Los Angeles most bunion surgeries are performed by podiatrists. I am sure there are areas of in The States where the majority are performed by orthopedists.

The surgery techniques used by the European foot surgeons were ones that we, in The States, discarded many years ago. At lest we, the podiatrists. With the old techniques, the foot was not left in a stable position after surgery and patients were required to wear a cast and use crutches for up to six weeks. Somehow this did not seem to bother the European foot surgeons but my patients wouldn't stand for it (no pun intended). With the techniques practiced by U S podiatrists you can walk the same day in a protective surgical shoe and are back in athletic shoes in a few weeks. This is a pretty standard procedure across the U.S.

At a couple of meetings I have met podiatrists from England and Australia. Some of them claim to use nearly the same techniques we do, but it is outside the regular health care system used in their respective countries (again the basic system is a socialized medicine). I wouldn't know how to have you get in touch with them - maybe put in "podiatrist' "bunion' and "England"  in a search engine. 

As far as surgery in the United States,  I have done bunion surgeries on patients from Mexico, Bermuda and The Philippines. They all paid a cash price for the surgery that includes my fee, the surgery center charge and the fee for the anesthesiologist.  I estimate that a cash price would be about US$ 4,000 to 5,000. This fee would include all x-rays and medications, but not physical therapy if needed (and it usually is not needed). Harder than paying the fee is the time you need to spend in the U.S. I recommend arriving a couple of days in advance. After the surgery I would need to see you on day three (wound inspection), day 12 (suture removal), day 21 (first x-rays) and, if you are still in the U.S., day 42 for a final checkout and x-rays before resuming normal activities. If needed you could leave after the 3rd week if you had someone in Holland who could follow you medically and x-ray your foot at the 7th week. 

This all presupposes that you have a standard bunion. If you are actually serious about coming to the state, please take a standing digital photo of your foot and e-mail it to me. I can get a good idea about the size of your bunion from the photograph.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Dr. Michael Zapf

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