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Hi, I'm Dr. Chuck Gilarski, and I practice at McFarland Clinic. I am a board certified
podiatrist. A podiatrist cares for many conditions of the foot and ankle, and we see patients
that come from various walks in life. We see many athletes with athletic injuries. We'll
also see children who have developing growth plate problems. Another thing that we see
frequently is patients that have arthritis or gout. They can develop painful conditions
with their feet and their ankles. Many times we'll see patients who have had fractures
or traumatic puncture wounds to their feet. We deal with many diabetic problems, patients
that have had previous infection, a previous ulceration. A podiatrist can also work, and
I work, in the Wound Care Center at the local hospital here. We will deal with patients
that have common problems, someone who may have a skin infection, an ingrown toenail,
a painful callus, or something that is irritating against his shoe, and they require advice
in regard to elimination of that problem. Patients usually come to me looking for an
answer. Podiatry is a specialty that we receive many referrals from. These referrals can come
from primary care physicians or from other branches in medicine, and when someone comes
to me, they're looking for an answer. Many times, they've had a scan or an x-ray test,
or several scans, and they still don't know what could be the source of their problem.
And it's my job to help them in finding out exactly what caused their problem. The most
rewarding part is when a patient returns to me and says, "Doctor, I finished my 5K race.
Doctor, I've completed this walk-a-thon for breast cancer, and my foot didn't hurt me.
I can wear shoes now, and I no longer have that arthritic toe that's painful." When someone
comes back to your office and they can resume their normal life, and their feet are not
painful, it's a feather in our hat in our department to know that we did a good job.