Tag: Vein Care

BLOOD THINNING MEDICATION’S PART 3: STATINS: WHAT ARE THEY AND HOW ARE THEY USED?

Posted on by Michael Kokinos

Over the past two weeks, I have described the blood thinning medications that vascular surgeons use to treat patients: Anticoagulant and Antiplatelet medications. This week, I want to spend time talking about another important medication that primary care physicians and vascular surgeons both agree helps to improve patient outcomes: Statins.

Statins refer to a general class of drugs that inhibit a special enzyme involved in the production of cholesterol within the body: 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-Coenzyme A, otherwise known as HMG-CoA.  HMG-CoA catalyzes the first reaction in a series of almost 30 individual reactions to create molecules of cholesterol!  As a vascular surgeon I sometimes prescribe Statins to my patients with high cholesterol to help my patients manage their cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol:

A high cholesterol level is one of the most common medical problems that patients I see have.  As a vascular surgeon it is important for me to understand when a patient has high cholesterol because of the following fact:

A high cholesterol level in the blood may result in a narrowing within the blood vessels of the heart, legs, and neck.  When these narrowing’s form they can cause heart attacks, ulcers and pain in the feet, and strokes, respectively.

In numerous clinical trials, the administration of statins has been shown to decrease the rate of death, heart attack, and stroke in patients at elevated risk of these medical problems due to high blood pressure, history of smoking, and diabetes.  The general group of statins includes medications like atorvastatin, simvastatin, and rosuvastatin.

At every office visit, I check my patients’ medical history to make sure that their cholesterol levels are being properly managed to ensure the best possible outcomes. Typically, when a patient presents in my office with a history of the following medical conditions, I will often prescribe statins as part of a larger approach to managing their cardiovascular disease:

  • History of heart attack, peripheral vascular disease, or stroke
  • History of diabetes mellitus over the age of 45

Vascular disease is both complex and difficult to manage. At South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute our physicians have been specially trained to understand “WHY” a problem exists so that our patients have real solutions to living a healthy life. Proper medical and surgical management of our patient involves a deep understanding of our patient’s medical history of which statins may play an important part. If you are currently on a statin or your referring physician believes a statin may be part of a larger approach to your circulatory health, please feel free to schedule an appointment with our office so that we can help you to evaluate this important decision with the context of your overall vascular health. Moreover, if you have a history of ulcers or pain in your feet or stroke, please do not hesitate to call my office today to schedule a consultation to determine if statins can be prescribed as part of your overall care and treatment!

Dr. Ignatius H. Lau: Vascular Surgeon

Dr. Ignatius Lau grew up in Portland, Oregon. He attended the University of Washington in Seattle for college and Stony Brook University in Long Island for medical school. He then went on to train in vascular surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. During his time in New York, he performed over 1600 cases involving aortic, peripheral, venous, and carotid surgery. He has a special interest in limb salvage and treating patients with peripheral arterial disease and has extensive training and experience in treating the full spectrum of vascular diseases. Dr Lau was also very active in medical research during his training, ultimately finishing with twelve peer reviewed manuscripts. During his training in New York he met his wife, Lisa, who is a practicing endodontist. Together they love to hike, try new restaurants, and travel.

To see what our patients are saying about us, follow the link below to read our reviews.

https://www.google.com/search?q=south+bay+vasculr&rlz=1C1CHBD_enUS878US878&oq=&aqs=chrome.0.69i59i450l8.2997409j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#lrd=0x808e34eecfbc0653:0xb9aa2de7f50ba6a5,1,,,

South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute is Silicon Valley’s largest and most trusted Vascular Surgery practice.  Serving South Bay communities for over 26 years, Dr Kokinos and her Colleague, Dr Ignatius Lau are the region’s foremost experts in advanced vascular care and provide innovative care for patients suffering from circulation relation problems. At South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute our job is to understand the “Why” so that you have real solutions to living a healthy life. Call us today at 408-376-3626 or visit our website at www.southbayvascular.com to learn about what makes us the most referred to vascular surgery clinic in Silicon Valley.

BLOOD THINNING MEDICATIONS PART 1: ANTICOAGULANTS: WHAT ARE THEY AND HOW ARE THEY USED?

Posted on by Michael Kokinos

Over the next few weeks, I want to discuss the medications that vascular surgeons may prescribe.  These medications include anticoagulants, antiplatelets, statins, and other miscellaneous agents.  This week I will discuss anticoagulants!

Anticoagulation refers to agents that STOP the clotting of blood.  The clotting of blood starts with what is known as the coagulation cascade.  The cascade refers to a series of consecutive events each involving special proteins that are needed to occur for blood to form a clot.  Different anticoagulants block specific parts of the cascade.  The main reason we usually see patients with anticoagulants are for hypercoagulable states, certain heart arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation, and deep vein thromboses otherwise known as blood clots.  Hypercoagulable states are specific genetically inherited disorders that result in the blood being more likely to clot.  Atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmias can cause blood clots to form in the heart.

 

Anticoagulant agents are given to prevent the formation of clots in the heart that can then break off and go to the brain, hands, feet, kidneys, or any other part of the body and cause problems. 

 

Deep vein thrombosis or blood clots mandate the prescription of anticoagulant therapy to ensure that more blood clot does not form.

 

Anticoagulants can be broken up by many different classification schemes.  For the purposes of this blog, I will limit our discussion here to agents that are appropriate for the OUTPATIENT (Outside of the hospital) setting.  Please speak with you private physician to answer any additional questions you may have regarding Anticoagulation medication of feel free to reach out to me directions for more information on how anticoagulation is used. Anticoagulation agents that are used during hospitalization or in the IN-PATIENT setting in patients are outside the scope of this article.

 

Up until the 2010’s the mainstay of anticoagulation therapy was with a drug called warfarin (Trade name: Coumadin).  Warfarin, though effective, requires the weekly or biweekly measurement of a specific lab for the blood called the prothrombin time.  The active monitoring of the prothrombin time facilitates modulation of dosing to always allow for safe levels of effective therapeutic anticoagulation.  Since the beginning of the 21st century new agents have come to market that require only taking one or two pills a day.  They include Xarelto or Rivaroxaban and Eliquis or apixaban.

If you have a question about how your medications may be affecting your vascular disease, please do not hesitate to call and schedule an appointment today!

South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute is Silicon Valley’s largest and most trusted Vascular Surgery practice.  Serving South Bay communities for over 26 years, Dr Kokinos and her Colleague, Dr Ignatius Lau are the region’s foremost experts in advanced vascular care and provide innovative care for patients suffering from circulation relation problems. At South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute our job is to understand the “Why” so that you have real solutions to living a healthy life. Call us today at 408-376-3626 or visit our website at www.southbayvascular.com to learn about what makes us the most referred to vascular surgery clinic in Silicon Valley.

WHAT IS “ENDOVASCULAR” SURGERY?

Posted on by Michael Kokinos

As a vascular surgeon, I perform two very different types of surgery: Open Surgery and Endovascular Surgery.

  • Open surgery is just as you might think!  It involves making an incision with a scalpel and using various tools like forceps, scissors, electrocautery, and needle drivers to expose and then repair specific structures.  Since the beginning of surgery itself, all surgeons, not just vascular surgeons, have been practicing open surgery.
  • Endovascular surgery is a recent development that only began in the 1990s.  Motivated by the desire to perform minimally invasive and less harmful interventions on the most sick and highest risk patients, pioneers in vascular surgery developed endovascular techniques.

Though the concept is simple, endovascular surgery now allows vascular surgeons to solve a multitude of problems with blood vessels very differently than they have in the past. Using advanced minimally invasive surgical techniques, vascular surgeons can treat many forms of vascular disease without the need to “cut-open” their patients to treat extraordinarily complex and in some cases life threatening diseases.

Endovascular surgical techniques utilize ultrasound (sound waves) to place the tip of a hollow needle into a blood vessel.  Once these hollow needles have been placed through the needle, we place a very stiff wire that allows us to advance large tubes called catheters into the vessel.  Catheters have many different functions depending on the situation and are used to re-establish blood flow in vessels that are diseased and or blocked.

For peripheral vascular disease, there are blockages in the legs of a patient that prevent blood flow from reaching the foot.  For peripheral vascular disease we can use balloons on the end of the catheter that are inflated to open a blockage.  If balloons do not work, then we can put a self-expanding metal mesh tube on the end of a catheter and then deploy it inside the blockage, thereby keeping it open.  There is also a technology called atherectomy which literally means cutting out plaque.  The atherectomy device has a cutting edge that sands down the plaque and then a suction function that removes all the debris.

For aneurysms, which are dilations of a blood vessel that can rupture, we use stent grafts, which are self-expanding metal mesh tubes that are lined with an impermeable fabric.  We place the stent graft above and below the aneurysm, thereby sealing it from the pressure created by the heart and preventing rupture.

At the end of these endovascular cases, the patient only has one or two 1 mm in size punctures over the arteries that were accessed.  Contrast this to the classic open surgeries where patients could have incisions up to 10 to 20 cm!  As a contemporary vascular surgeon, I take pride and joy in being able to offer both types of surgical interventions to my patients.  If you or your loved one may be suffering from vascular disease, please do not hesitate to call our office at 408-376-3626 to schedule an appointment today!

THE “RIGHT” EXPERIENCE COUNTS WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR HEALTH

Posted on by Michael Kokinos

The “RIGHT” Experience Counts When It Comes to Your Health! South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute is the Bay Area’s Most Trusted Varicose Vein Clinic and Treatment Center.

Having performed over 20,000 vein procedures in the past 24 years, more independent doctors refer their vein patients to Dr. Polyxene (Polly) Kokinos than to any other vascular surgeon in the greater Silicon Valley region. Recognized as San Jose’s most experienced Vascular Surgeon and Varicose Vein Expert, Dr Kokinos offers cutting edge care to patients suffering from all forms of both arterial and venous disease.

Here’s why more local doctors refer to South Bay Vascular than to any other Vascular Surgery Center in the Valley:

  • The “RIGHT” Experience Counts When it Comes to your Health: South Bay Vascular center has been treating vein patients in a private practice setting for over 24 years.
  • Cutting edge vascular care in a fully accredited, state of the art, and private out-patient surgery center dedicated entirely to the practice of vascular surgery.
  • Access to the most Advanced Imaging and Device technologies found anywhere in the world.
  • On-site fully staffed IAC accredited Vascular Ultrasound Clinic that is operated full time by Registered Vascular Technologists (RVT).
  • Vascular Studies ready by RPVI certified Vascular Surgeons.
  • Same day availability for Hemodialysis Access de-clots.
  • “One-Doctor, One Patient, One Nurse” practice philosophy means we put the patients first.
  • Full time access to practice physicians
  • Easy access to care: No admissions departments.
  • RESULTS:   We are MORE than just a colorful website and a Google Adwords campaign. Remember, all that glitters is NOT Gold!  https://www.southbayvascular.com/blog/varicose-vein-doctors/

 Trust the doctor your physician does.

 Remember, Its Not Just Experience That Counts.

When It Comes to Your Health, It’s The “RIGHT” Experience that Matters!

Dr Polyxene Kokinos, Silicon Valley’s Vascular Surgeon.

Call us today at 408-376-3626 to schedule your vein consultation.

Click here to learn more about Dr Kokinos  NOT JUST VASCULAR CARE, EXCEPTIONAL VASCULAR CARE

VARICOSE VEIN DOCTORS

Posted on by Michael Kokinos

Type “Varicose Vein Doctor” into your Google search and in seconds, you’re overwhelmed by results.

Each link points to a different website.  Each site claims their “Vein Doctor” is the “best” and every practitioner claims to have the “bona-fides” to back-up these claims. Credentials span the continuum from Academic Institution Affiliations, (claiming to be X, Y or Z University Affiliated); to Chair-Personships (they “chaired’ this or that medical departments in the “Big Box” health care systems they came from (i.e. Kaiser, PAMF, or Sutter) to Medical Journal Publications…all this in an apparent attempt to equate administrative responsibilities with clinical excellence. Some of the bolder in the group even claim they trained at the best medical schools hoping to convince potential patients that by attending a great medical school they are the best physician for the procedure.

 

AN ESPECIALLY CONCERNING TREND IS A PHYSICIAN’S USE OF GOOGLE ADWORDS TO ADVANCE THEIR MESSAGE

 

If a vein doctor’s website shows up in your Google Search and you see that the listing starts with the word “AD” …be careful. It means that the owner of this practice is paying Google a special Advertising fee to get their name to the top of the search results. This is an attempt by this physician to “BUY LEGITIMACY”.  Businesses PAYING google to display their ads above the practitioners who have EARNED this privilege is a great way for Google to make money. Unfortunately, it can be deceiving to people who think that because a doctor’s website pops up at the top of the search results that they must be the best. (On a separate note…If a physician’s website DOES show up at the top of the search results and DOES NOT have the word “AD” in front of it, IT IS a sign that this physician has many website visitors and that they have been around for a long time…Especially if this listing is followed by a large number of Google Reviews.)  It also means that this physician has EARNED their reputation, and NOT purchased their website ranking. A word of warning to patients searching for an experienced vein care professionals. Anyone can pay to elevate their search rankings on Google; regardless of their experience.

 

IGNORE websites with paid “AD’s”, especially if they don’t have any verified Google reviews. 

 

To make things even more difficult, it can be very confusing just trying to figure out what kind of doctor actually does varicose vein procedures. Some doctors call themselves “Vein Specialists”. Others call themselves “Vein Experts”. You’ll also see the labels “Phlebologist” and “Vascular Expert”. Finally, there is the “Vascular Surgeon”. You ask yourself, do all of these physicians fix varicose veins? If so, what’s the difference? (Learn more by clicking on the following link). https://www.southbayvascular.com/blog/vascular-surgeon-vs-phlebologist-vs-vein-specialist/ Every one of these “Vein Doctors” promises to rid you of your ugly, painful veins, leg swelling and non-healing ulcers. Every one of them posts photos showing off their work to prove their point.

Let’s face it, it’s confusing. All you really want is to get your veins “fixed” so that next time you get invited to a pool party you can wear shorts or a skirt again without being “mortified” by how bad your legs look. So, what’s next?

Lost in this hype, finding the right doctor to treat your varicose veins might seem impossible. Choosing the best doctor for your specific vein condition is a difficult decision and not one that you should take lightly.  Only after serious consideration of the available options should this decision be made and in the best of all worlds, it should be made in consultation with your primary care physician…and this is the probably the most important message in this post.

LISTEN TO YOUR PRIMARY CARE DOCTOR

They’ve been in this community a long time and they know who is good and who is not. Their referral should be your number one reason to make an appointment with a Varicose Vein Doctor.

In the best of scenarios, patients should visit as many doctors as they can; interview them and question them about everything relating to their condition and their ability to help you…but remember, your primary care doctor has been doing this for a long time. They’ve got the benefit of having seen the results from different doctors and on the strength of their recommendation, you should have the confidence to know that you are making the right choice.

Here are a few things varicose vein patients should keep in mind:

  1. Remember, these are your legs. You deserve the best and you deserve to “Love Your Legs Again”.
  2. Don’t be frightened to ask your doctor tough questions.
    • Don’t just ask your vein doctor how long they have been in practice, ask them how long they have been doing these specific kinds of vein procedures. Ask them how many of these procedures they’ve done.
    • If your doctor is in private practice, ask them how long they have owned their own practice. This is important because getting things done right in a private practice is significantly more difficult than getting work done in a University Hospital or Big Box Medical System.
    • How many of these procedures have you done RECENTLY….if they do less than 25-30/ month, you might want to seriously consider finding another option
    • What kind of complications might you expect…every person is different and if your doctor says your legs will look as good as they did when you were 20, you might want to consider seeing someone else.
    • Who does your ultrasounds…are your ultrasound techs RVT’s (Registered Vascular Technologists?) Are they done “in-house” by full time Vascular ultrasonographers or are they done by “travelling” ultrasonographers who just work in their office a few times a week and who are not full time employees of the medical office.
    • Most importantly, is your Vascular lab IAC Accredited? This is especially important as your doctor will make their diagnosis on the basis of your ultrasound report and an IAC accreditation guarantees the best of the best studies are being done at that particular lab.
    • Who reads the ultrasounds….is it an RPVI registered physician, not simply a radiologist… as the two physicians will look for vastly different signs relating to vascular disease and health. Keep in mind if the study isn’t read correctly, the procedure can go poorly.
  3. Finally, ask your “Vein Specialist” about what happens if you have a complication Ask your provider if they have “Admitting privileges” at the local hospital in the event something goes wrong during the procedure and what their plan is if their procedure fails.

 

EXPERIENCE COUNTS WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR HEALTH!

 

South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute brings 24 years and 20,000 vein procedures to you as our patients. As the leading independent Vascular Surgery practice in the San Francisco Bay Area, more local independent physicians refer their vein patients to Dr Kokinos than to any other vascular surgeon in the greater Silicon Valley Region.

WE OFFER HOPE WHEN OTHER SAYS THERE IS NONE!

Call us today at 408-376-3626 to schedule your vein consultation

LEG SWELLING: SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

Do you Suffer From Iliac Vein Compression?

To answer that question, take a few seconds to consider the following:

  • Are your legs swollen? Is your left leg larger than your right?
  • Is it harder to slip one shoe on in the morning than the other?
  • Have you had cosmetic or other surgical procedure done and not gotten the outcome you wanted?
  • Are you a cancer patient undergoing treatment or procedures?
  • Have you ever suffered from a blood clot or (DVT) in your leg
  • Do you visit a wound care clinic with little to no success?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, you MAY be suffering from a well known, but previously difficult to diagnose problem called May-Thurner’s Syndrome.

May Thurner’s Syndrome, also known as iliac Vein Compression, is a condition where the main artery supplying blood to the leg pushes down or compresses the main vein taking blood back to your heart. In the illustration below you can see in the far right graphic a “representation” of this compression. One way to help think of what happens when a patient suffers from iliac vein compressions is to consider what happens when a car tire partially runs over a garden hose in your driveway.

If the hose was “on” when you drove over it, water will continue to come out of the hose end but the flow rate will decrease. In a similiar way, blood returning to your heart will continue to flow if you have developed iliac vein compression, but the rate at which it returns is slowed down, resulting in a pooling of blood (i.e. swelling) in your leg.

Chronic pain and swelling in one leg (especially the left side) may be caused by Iliac Vein Compression. This is a little-known but fairly common condition that can greatly impact your quality of life—and may lead to more serious complications. In fact, studies have shown that in a full 30% of ALL people, the left iliac vein can be significantly compressed by the right iliac artery resulting in some kind of leg symptom….aching, heaviness, and most commonly, swelling or non-healing of wounds in the leg veins.

Swollen legs ARE NOT a normal part of aging or weight gain. And it’s not something you have to “just live with.”

Leg swelling is a special area of interest of Dr. Polly Kokinos, and she has been active in doing clinical research to find better ways to diagnose and to treat this condition. To diagnose and to treat this condition and the potentially deadly side effects caused by it (Blood Clots or Deep Venous Thrombosis) Dr. Kokinos has assembled a highly skilled team of vascular ultrasonographer’s who have developed a specialized screening protocol to evaluate for Iliac Vein Compression. Using state of the art ultrasonic imaging technology Dr. Kokinos’ Registered Vascular Ultrasonographer’s use this new protocol to scan up into the abdomen of their patients to examine the physics of the blood flow in this area. If a compression is identified during this ultrasound exam, Dr. Kokinos is able to further verify and treat this problem using a super specialized device called IVUS (Intra-vascular ultrasound) where she can insert a miniuture camera into the actual vein to determine the length of the compression after which she can place a stent to “re-open” this compressed vessel to re-establish normal blood flow.

To date, Dr. Kokinos has successfully performed over 200 of these iliac vein stent procedures in her state of the art out-patient angiography suite. She has lectured extensively at major vascular surgery meetings on her approach and success helping patients reduce leg swelling, increase the rate of wound healing and return to a normal way of living and is seen by her peers as an expert in this technique.

If you are currently experiencing a swollen leg, have a non healing leg, foot,or ankle wounds or have ever suffered a blood clot (DVT) please contact our office at 408-376-3626 to schedule an appointment.

Don’t suffer from swollen legs or non-healing leg ulcers any longer.

We can help!

DR. POLYXENE KOKINOS…AN INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY VASCULAR SURGEON SERVING SOUTH BAY RESIDENTS FOR 24 YEARS

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

For 24 years, Dr. Polyxene (Polly) Kokinos has worked in the greater San Francisco Bay Area community as an independent vascular surgeon, dedicating her time to serving patients suffering from vascular disease.

With offices in both Campbell, CA and Gilroy, CA Dr. Kokinos has worked with over 25,000 patients helping them as they suffer from circulatory illnesses and the impact of their disease. From the most delicate to the most complex surgical care, Dr. Kokinos’ and her staff have remained independent community physicians, offering patients an alternative to the “Big Box” medical systems of Santa Clara, San Mateo and Alameda Counties (Kaiser, PAMF, Sutter, Stanford) by offering unmatched personalized care and innovative surgical techniques to advance the care and treatment of her patients.

“We offer hope when others say there is none” is more than a simple message crafted by a marketing agent. It is at the core of everything we do and is the reason why we our facility operates in the most personal way available…

One Patient, One Doctor, One Nurse

South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute, located in Campbell, CA is the only fully accredited privately owned state of surgery center in the South Bay dedicated entirely to the practice of Vascular Surgery. Here, Dr. Kokinos provides unmatched vascular surgical care using cutting edge imaging and device technology that no other vascular surgeon or institution in the area can offer as she continues her pioneering work in the treatment of vascular disease.

Recognized by her peers as a national expert in the care of complex vascular disease, Dr. Kokinos is highly sought after as a speaker at national and international vascular surgical conferences and educational symposia. On March 4 2020 as part of her ongoing commitment to her community, Dr. Kokinos spoke in San Mateo, CA. addressing a large group of her peers as an invited guest of Global Education Group and Educational Awareness Solutions under a grant from Philips Image Guided Therapy. Her topic was “The Essential Role of the Primary Community Care Team in the Management of Lower Extremity Arterial and Venous Disease”

Her talk focused on Vascular diseases, “Including peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and venous thromboembolism and their prevalence in the US. When unrecognized or inadequately treated, these disorders may be life threatening and disabling. The therapeutic an diagnostic landscape for vascular conditions is rapidly evolving; yet there remains an unmet need for more awareness among healthcare professionals and patients.” As a recognized expert in her field, Dr. Kokinos was asked to address these topics with her peers, offering solutions and answering questions and was honored to present at this event.

As an independent community surgeon, Dr Kokinos isn’t forced to achieve the “productivity” targets or revenue targets that are by design a part of “Big Box” Medicine. Her practice has always been one of service to her community and as such continues taking emergency vascular call at Good Samaritan Hospital, O’Connor and El Camino Hospital’s in the Silicon Valley. She has served as the chair of vascular surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, Headed the wound care clinic at Good Samaritan, O’Connor and St Louis hospitals and continues to treat patients at the O’Connor Wound Care Clinic.

As an independent community physician Dr. Kokinos focuses her work on providing cutting edge care in the treatment of the most difficult vascular problems. Free from “corporate” medicine Dr Kokinos’ practice is dedicated to finding the “Why” you are suffering so that you have “real” solutions to living a healthy life. At South Bay Vascular, our first job is to listen. We take the time to fully understand your symptoms so that we can provide the best possible solutions to get your legs and your life back…and that’s what she has been doing for over 24 years.

Unlike Big Box medical practices where doctors see the patients on their “list” every morning, Dr. Kokinos must earn the trust and respect of everyone she sees. She’s knows each and every one of her patients by name and everyone who comes in to see Dr. Kokinos gets her cell phone to call if they ever have a problem. It’s what she does and what she’s always done, building her practice patient by patient, referring physician by referring physician for the past 24 years.

If you or anyone you love suffers from vascular disease, we would be honored to meet with you to discuss your symptoms. Please call our office at 408-376-3626 to schedule an appointment.

TREATING DIABETIC FOOT ULCERS

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

Millions of patients every year are seen in wound care centers for the treatment of their foot and leg ulcers. This is absolutely the correct place for anyone who has had a wound that is “non-healing” or “chronic”. That is, a wound that is still there after four weeks. Unfortunately, sometimes the physicians in these wound care centers are quick to put on expensive savs or other advanced treatment options. After all, isn’t that why the patients go to the wound care center instead of just their physician’s office? Partially. Good wound care centers treat by guidelines.

Guidelines are a scientifically proven set of steps that have been shown to help wounds heal faster. For EVERY wound on the leg or foot, the very first step is to assess BLOOD FLOW. This means that every patient with a leg or foot wound that hasn’t healed in four weeks MUST be seen by both a vascular surgeon AND a podiatrist (foot specialist).

The vascular surgeon will assess the circulation and order appropriate diagnostic tests, such as vascular ultrasounds to look at the blood flow. This is important to examine, as a large number of the patients who have ulcers, have not previously been diagnosed with an arterial or venous problem. Without fixing the underlying cause of the ulcer, even if it does heal initially, it will soon recur, and cause further problems. It is important for patients to take an active role in asking for these referrals so that the problem does not progress and become a wound that can lead to an amputation.

If you or anyone you know is diabetic and suffers from non-healing leg wounds call today to schedule an appointment at our office. South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute Surgeons are recognized as the regional experts in wound care healing and amputation prevention. Our Vascular Surgeons have performed more lower extremity re-vascularizations than any other surgeons in the region and offer hope when others say there is none.

Call today at 408-376-3626