In the world of feet, you keep moving.
Sound Foot Care Center in Norwalk is the first in Connecticut to offer a new alternative treatment for foot fungus called PinPointe Foot Laser.
In the past there have been drugs that you”™d have to take for about three months with potential liver side effects, said Dr. Harris Greenberger, owner of Sound Foot Care. “This is a way to have a treatment and not have to worry about a medication. It”™s a onetime treatment and it”™s about 85 percent successful. It”™s a laser that delivers enough energy to kill the organisms under the nail and not do any tissue damage, like laser hair removal. It”™s safe and effective.”
According to Greenberger, toenail fungus affects nearly 35 million Americans. He said a 2008 study of 500 women by Kelton Research for the American Podiatric Medical Association revealed more than 50 percent of women say their feet embarrass them “always, frequently or sometimes.”
The PinPointe Foot Laser is created by California-based PathoLase Inc.
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Dr. Harris Greenberger has been in private practice for 10 years and on his own for almost three and he has lofty goals for how the residents of Fairfield County treat their feet.?“Toenail fungus is not only unsightly, but can become emotionally devastating for many Americans, particularly those who have struggled with ineffective treatment of toenail fungus,” said Greenberger, a Norwalk native. “At Sound Foot Care Center of Connecticut we strive to offer patients cutting-edge treatments for their podiatric ailments.”?Greenberger said he was looking to expand his practice immediately upon opening.
“A larger space became available in the same building and Greenberger purchased his second location in the corporate condominiums at 148 East Ave. in Norwalk.
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“We built a brand new office,” said Greenberger. “My goal and vision was to create an environment that was more experience based as opposed to just medically based. I wanted a place where I could offer the newest technologies and newest procedures that are medically based and sound. My practice has doubled over the past two years and offering new procedures has helped. We”™re innovative.”
Greenberger said he was inspired by Howard Schultz”™s Starbucks model of business.
“I”™ve always been a huge fan of learning about business,” said Greenberger. “I feel there is more to medicine than just the medicine. I wanted to create a different, spa-like, comfortable atmosphere that would allay people”™s fears about seeing a doctor or having a procedure: the smell, the sterile coldness or anything else.”
Greenberger said he feels that medical offices should be up to par with what is possible, and that the laser treatment is an example of that.
“I think it just takes a vision and desire to provide that,” said Greenberger.
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Greenberger said he hopes to extend foot care to a level on par with that of dental care, where there are checkups twice a year.
“There”™s a whole variety of patients we see from kids to geriatric care and everything in between,” said Greenberger.
By the end of the year Greenberger will open a division of the office that is tailored to the feet of athletes.
We”™ll analyze gaits, alignment and cadence to help one correct any issues and make them more efficient and prevent injuries,” said Greenberger. “This is not old science but nobody else is doing it, and everybody walks.”
