Maryann is a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine and co-owner of Advanced Podiatry Associates in Allentown, PA. Whether working in one of her two clinics or at St. Luke’s University Health System, Maryann is treating any number of foot and ankle ailments, from ingrown toenails and bunions to full-blown ankle reconstructive surgery. She suggests podiatry to any interested medical student as a way to treat a wide range of ailments in a wide range of patients (from three years old to 102!)
Transcript
Hello, my name is Dr. Maryann Hartzell. I am a podiatrist, a foot and ankle specialist. As a podiatrist, I treat all aspects of foot and ankle injuries and maladies. I treat everything from people who would have problems with ingrown toenails, fungal nails, to people that need ankle reconstructive work. People that have forefoot injuries or have bunion deformities, they are generally treated conservatively until which time the pain is enough that renders surgical intervention. And we treat them through the surgery. I perform the surgery, and then afterwards, rehab them until they are back to their ideal pre-injury state. A bunion is a functional deformity of the big toe joint. It is the joint behind the big toe, and often times people develop bunions from problems with biomechanics in their feet, which is how the foot acts in terms of a functional unit. So if the foot is overly flattened or you have too much motion in that joint, you tend to develop an issue of that joint. And it can be inflamed and gets very painful, and it can happen in men or women. You can have a problem fitting into shoes, and they determine that they desire surgical intervention. And they come to us, and we fix it. I actually have a partner. He and I work together at Advanced Podiatry Associates. We have two different offices, and we treat pediatrics to geriatrics and everything in between, anything from ingrown nails and warts in a three year old to toenail fungus in a 90 year old or a 102 year old, I believe is my oldest patient. I also spend a day at St. Luke's University Health System's Wound Care Centers. One is in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and one is in Bethlehem. And there, we treat wounds below the knee, leg and foot wounds, many diabetic foot wounds with advanced therapies to treat them and things that you have great difficulty using in your office, things that have advanced treatments, like skin substitutes and things like that to bring them to healing to save their limbs.
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