The Foot & Ankle Surgery division provides reconstructive and trauma procedures, treatment of sports-related injuries, procedures to correct deformities and joint reconstruction and replacement.

Conditions and Disorders We Treat

• Arthritic conditions including degenerative joint disease, rheumatoid arthritis, post-traumatic, arthritic bunions, hammertoes, midfoot and hindfoot, and ankle joint arthritis.
• Flatfoot and high-arch deformities (posterior tibial tendon dysfunction, polio deformities)
• Post-traumatic deformities including fractures that do not heal (non-unions), fractures that do not heal in the correct alignment (malunions), pseudoarthroses, deformed foot/ankle, dropfoot, etc.)
• Congenital deformities (clubfoot, birth defects, coalitions-joint unions, multiple toes, shortened and fat toes)
• Neuromuscular deformities (dropfoot, cerebral palsy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth, upper motor/lower motor conditions, spastic conditions)
• Foot/ankle deformities due to diabetes (deformities and joint collapsing disease (Charcot) due to diabetes, flatfoot deformity, pre-ulcerative patients)
• Failed surgeries 

Surgical Procedures and Techniques 

When non-operative therapy fails to achieve the desired result, minimally invasive procedures may be used. One such minimally invasive technique is called external fixation, which involves the placement of pins into bone and then connecting the pins to bars on the outside of the skin. This is often temporary and used when it is unsafe to perform definitive surgery immediately. Other minimally invasive procedures that may be used are electric shock wave therapy and allograft bi-laminate skin grafting, commonly known as artificial skin grafting.

Surgical procedures include internal fixation for complex fractures, tendon balancing, transfer, repair and grafting; joint replacement and fusions; cartilage replacement/transplantation and limb salvage reconstruction for foot and ankle conditions resulting from diabetes.

For many of our surgical procedures we use regional anesthesia, (also known as nerve blocks or peripheral nerve block) to block the sensation in a specific part of your body during and after surgery. It offers numerous advantages over conventional general anesthesia, including faster recovery time, fewer side effects, no need for an airway device during surgery, and a dramatic reduction in post-surgical pain.

• Read more about regional anesthesia at UCSD

To schedule an appointment

• La Jolla: (858) 657-8200
• Hillcrest: (619) 543-6312
• Request an Appointment Online (New Patients Only)