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Shortly after blowing out the candles on the cake during her 16th birthday celebration, Christine* was handed a map of Florida. A bit befuddled, she was asked by her parents to point to the place she wanted to visit for a vacation that year.
“I thought about Miami for a second, but for some reason I put my finger on Sarasota,” the British teen remembers. “It was a life-changing decision, because I fell in love with the area and decided soon after to move there.”
At age 18, Christine left her suburban London home and headed overseas to attend college in Sarasota. She later met her husband while spending a day at the beach on nearby Siesta Key.
“The beach is what I love most about this area,” says Christine, now 58. “I love digging my toes in the sand and being near the water. For a while, however, I was digging my toes in the sand because I didn’t want anyone to see them.”
What Christine was hiding was a bad case of toenail fungus. It invaded her left big toe about two years ago, then spread to the other toes on her left foot before attacking her right big toe.
Embarrassed, Christine eventually went in search of a solution. She found one at Sarasota Foot and Ankle Center, where Dawn Chiu, DPM, AACFAS, has adopted PinPointe™ FootLaser® therapy as her “weapon of choice” in the battle against toenail fungus.
PinPointe FootLaser therapy is a quick, easy, painless in-office treatment that effectively kills the underlying fungus without side effects and does not require a blood test beforehand.
“It lasts only a few minutes, and during that time the laser is passed over the nail in a crisscross pattern to ensure full coverage,” Dr. Chiu explains. “Patients usually feel a warmth on their toe during the treatment, but there is no pain.”
Afterward, patients can return to normal activities immediately. When combined with topical ointments, the laser therapy has an 80 percent success rate, according to Dr. Chiu, who counts Christine among her successes.
“I first went to see Dr. Chiu thinking she’d have some kind of super-powered ointment to give me for my toes, but then she mentioned the laser treatment and I thought, Well, that should knock it out,” Christine remembers.
“I told her, Let’s do it, and I’m really glad I did. She started the treatment that day and I went back to her once every three months for almost a year, and after a couple months, my toenails started growing back naturally, looking the way they should.
“It’s been about a year now since I first went to Dr. Chiu, and my toenails look great. It’s like I never had a problem at all, so the treatment worked wonderfully, and it was completely painless. I recommend it and Dr. Chiu to anyone with toenail fungus.”
Before and after images courtesy of Sarasota Foot and Ankle Center.
*Patient’s name changed at her request.
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