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 Things happen fast in medicine so whatever you read could well be outdated, especially if it was written many years ago.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

The $28,000 Heel Surgery! (or is it $56K?)

There is a podiatry group in my area that promotes their practice in a unique way. Every two or three month every resident from magic Mountain to Santa Monica (about 100 miles) receives a full color 4-page illustrated brochure touting the skills and abilities of the podiatric surgeons in the group. Imagine that! They send out tens of thousands of these brochures to tens of thousands of homes. They stress their competence with Shock Wave Therapy which they call Noninvasive Sound Wave Surgery. I must admit that the brochures are beautiful and the descriptions of the doctors make them sound outstanding. They give their readers an almost impossible come-on that includes, can you believe your good fortune, a Free Visit. I have had many a patient bite on this line and visit this group of experts. One of them brought back a fee estimate that I present below with some of my comments appended. Note that they do more than just shockwave therapy; they add a procedure where a few drill holes is made in the heel bone through a tiny surgical cut is made on the bottom of the foot. These doctors are the only ones I have ever heard of that advocate adding drill holes in the bone to the shock wave surgery. None of the articles on shock wave surgery ever talk about this procedure. None of the text books ever talk about this procedure. Why would this group of "highly competent" foot surgeons add this procedure to their shock wave therapy. I think there might be 4500 dollars, er, I mean answers per foot. Look at the actual fee estimate I present below. The surgeon charge is $4500 for the shock wave and $4500 for the fenestration. They charge an assistant fee $3150 for no known reason. There is no possible way an assistant can add any value to either the shock wave or the fenestration (and this from a surgeon who used an assistant every time it is possibly warranted.) Now we are up to $12,250. next they add in the use of their own surgery facility (in my office I use my room number 7 for no additional charge) for an additional $12,500 bringing the subtotal to $24,750. While I inject the anesthetic into the heel myself in a treatment room they bring in an anesthesiologist who charges an additional $2500 so we are up to $27,150. Each post-operative visit costs about $600 and there can be many of these.    

So, do you get the picture? For every Free Visit that converts to a heel pain surgery with shock wave they make $28,000 - per foot. Two feet is, presumably, $56,000. With fees like this they can pay for such an expensive advertising campaign. Luckily, with your $56,000  I understand you also get a Free Lunch.

By the way Katherine L had me do her Shock Wave surgery for about $2000. She felt grateful and had a full resolution of her heel pain.

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