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It isn't just talk. The medical care in this area is amongst the best. Most doctors care very deeply about providing the best possible care and are not just thinking about the money. Like others have said, you should consider a podiatrist.
Your opinion differs from my experience. I guess one of us must be wrong.
S
PS Re the podiatrist: You mean I should spend three times as much to have a foot guy do a procedure that any sharp GP can do?
What you are asking for is a toenail avulsion with the application of Phenol to stop regrowth. Phenol may not always work but does a fair job most of the time. Dermatologists can also do this for you. A podiatrist of course should do it too.
I understand exactly your issues with primary care. I have seen three in a period of 4 years and finally settled on a one doctor per practice. I think the problem is the larger offices are simply not able to keep up with patient demands. I see Dr. Gazzingan at Wake Forest and have been pleased with her approach. Takes her time and get a response promptly to questions or refill requests.
Good luck. I have had minimal success with dentists. I am very skeptical with dentists. Seems like I also manage to leave with a proposed treatment plan of nearly a thousand bucks every time I go.
Your opinion differs from my experience. I guess one of us must be wrong.
S
PS Re the podiatrist: You mean I should spend three times as much to have a foot guy do a procedure that any sharp GP can do?
It is not just me, there are many survey's that demonstrate this. Duke, for example, consistently ranks as one of the top medical centers in the world:
I think Duke is great for complicated surgeries, but ingrown toenails don't always need surgery.
Sonorio, don't know how bad and how chronic your toenail problems are, but you might check into the bandaid method. It's cheap and worth a try. You use a bandaid wrapped from the ingrown side and down around the bottom of the toe and back to the top of the toe–not touching the nail–to pull the skin/flesh away from the nail bed. You don't cover the ingrown part. Worked for me a couple of times.
Otherwise I would probably see a podiatrist, too, or get a referral from my family doctor. They do zillions of these procedures and have a lot more practice than a family doctor.
Also if you've had that procedure twice before and you're still having problems you might want to look into the procedure where they take away some of the skin that is getting caught under the nail instead of taking away the nail. I believe that has a higher success rate. Personally, I go for the bandaid method first.
While I've generally been pleased with Duke, I do agree that they can be very reluctant to refer you to a specialist. I had to wait quite a while to get my BPPV treated recently.
It's almost like they are using a strict triage system. Granted, my vertigo doesn't usually rate up there with the more serious big-boys, but when I almost fell off a ladder because I accidentally tilted my head in the wrong direction, it could have been a pretty darn nasty problem!
I'm not sure how your insurance works. Some insurance companies do have a "Mother, May I?" approach to health care, and it can be bothersome having to go through layers of referrals. In the meantime, you're still a hurtin' (or in my case, dizzy) cowboy or cowgirl!
If that's how your inusurance works, I found that in my case, the only way I could get at least some relief (I'm about 90% better once I finally saw a specialist) was to be persistent. Very persistent. As in, "I'm having trouble walking, for Pete's sake!" persistent. Bring up ... politely, of course, but firmly ... how this is affecting your quality of life.
If you can directly see a specialist, yes ... get thee to a podiatrist!
It is not just me, there are many survey's that demonstrate this. Duke, for example, consistently ranks as one of the top medical centers in the world:
I think you will find most people on this board have been able to find physicians that provide the care that they have needed.
Top what, revenues?
Always there's somebody who wants to come in and say "You're wrong", but they either don't know or won't say what's right. They just want to say "You're wrong".
If you have an honest doctor who does good work without jerking the customer around, name him/her.
My son, a teenager at the time, had this same issue.
We took him to a podiatrist but we had insurance and maybe the OP doesn't and that is why he doesn't want to go to a specialist?
I admit that we've always had good insurance so I always felt that where my kids were concerned, I wanted that specialist.
The procedure was done about 10 years ago and he has not had any more problems.
I don't remember the doctor's name as we only used him that one time but he was located in North Raleigh in Stonehenge.
"MY" biggest pet peeve with doctors is that you have to go in there KNOWING what is wrong with you as they don't know how to diagnose anymore and they just want to treat your symptoms instead of fixing the problem!!!
Always there's somebody who wants to come in and say "You're wrong", but they either don't know or won't say what's right. They just want to say "You're wrong".
If you have an honest doctor who does good work without jerking the customer around, name him/her.
My comments were to respond to your comment in which you said: "I've heard people call the Triangle a great medical center, but it's not a great medical center because there are good doctors here." Further, you comments about "the doctors here suck spectacular amounts of money from people's insurance companies".
The medical community in the triangle is highly regarded by many independent sources. I gave you one and can give you more, if you really want proof. Read the link that I gave and if you want to understand the rating. UNC Medical center also ranks high and is in the top 3% of institutions. Another sign of expertise is to follow the research center activities. Just track clinicals. This area is a hotbed for research.
I have been in the medical field for over 20 years and have had interactions with physicians in most major markets. We are very fortunate to have access to a very high caliber of medical expertise in this area.
In your case, I would go to either the clinics at Duke or to UNC.
Your opinion differs from my experience. I guess one of us must be wrong.
S
PS Re the podiatrist: You mean I should spend three times as much to have a foot guy do a procedure that any sharp GP can do?
This is where I would disagree with the OP. I think you are both right. As the father of a girl who uses the medical system here a lot, I might elaborate.
We have some of the best research centers in the world here. We have (in Duke) one of the best trauma centers in the world. When my Newborn was knocking on Death's door, I was ever so thankful to have Duke there, a place that could competently operate on a child with low hopes, and only a few hours old. She is 13 and mostly healthy now.
But that is the same organization that cleans utensils with elevator fluid, and give patients the wrong lungs in a transplant due to "adminstrative mixups". It is the same hospital that screwed up my daughter and cost her an extra operation and 25% of her small intestine.
it is the same hospital that now charges you the specialist copay (no problem with that) AND then charges a facility fee which comes strait out of your deductable, so that a simple doctor visit costs someone with good insurance a LOT of out of pocket money.
No doubt the doctors are great. The system is screwed up, and Duke, as a business seems to be at the forefront of the problem. Billing, customer care, and even routine medical care is not good at Duke, whereas (IMO) their research, their trauma care, and other aspects are world-class.
You're both right.
OP: Even is a specialist costs more per visit, it may be cheaper in the long run to see one. If your situation is complicated, sometimes it pays to spend a little more to do it right. FWIW, I did the same procedure some 30+ years ago, as a kid, and they didn't kill the "root", so now I have a little sliver of tonail growing right next to the main nail. (but I rarely get Ingrown Nails anymore...)
(Believe it or not, this was a WAY condensed version of both the good and the bad....)
Try Dr. Agrawal at Heart and Hand Family Medicine in Apex. I don't know about this treatment in particular, but she tends to like doing hands-on procedures and is very good at it. I had to stop seeing her because of a change in insurance, but she could remove a boil better than any doctor could.
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