Frequently asked questions about wound care and limb salvage

Call 908-215-5953, or book online through Zocdoc. Our office team schedules all appointments and can answer questions about insurance and referrals. Please don’t include medical details when booking online — we’ll discuss them privately at your visit.

• Appointment options

Within a day or two for any foot wound that isn’t healing, especially if you have diabetes. When you call, tell our team that you have a wound and whether you have diabetes, so we can find an early appointment. Please call rather than waiting for the wound to hurt: numbness from diabetes can hide a problem that is getting worse.

Some signs can’t wait for an office visit. For spreading redness with fever, black tissue, foul-smelling drainage, or a foot that is cold, pale or blue, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.

It depends on your insurance plan. Some plans require a referral from your primary care physician before a specialist visit; others don’t. Your insurance carrier can tell you what your plan requires, and our office can help when you call.

Please call our office at 908-215-5953 to inquire about your insurance.

Coverage for dressings, offloading boots and devices, therapeutic shoes and advanced wound products depends on your plan and on the item, and some need prior authorization. Please call our office at 908-215-5953 to inquire about your insurance.

• Diabetic foot care and therapeutic shoes (external site)

Call 908-215-5953 or fax 908-446-2575. Our referral page has a downloadable referral sheet and a list of the records and test results that help us most. For an urgent problem, such as a spreading infection, please call and ask to speak with the clinical team. Please don’t send protected health information by regular email.

• Information for referring physicians

Yes. Dr. Ozturk speaks English and Turkish. Let our office know your language preference when you schedule.

Anyone with a foot or ankle wound that isn’t healing, and especially people with diabetes, numb feet, poor circulation or kidney disease, in whom a small wound can become serious quickly.

We also see people with foot infections or bone infection, a Charcot foot, an ulcer near the ankle from leg swelling, a toe that is turning dark, a surgical wound or amputation site that has opened up, and people who have been told they may need an amputation and would like a second opinion.

• Conditions we treat

We go over how the wound started, your health and your medicines, and examine the whole foot and leg: the skin, sensation, foot shape, pulses and circulation, with noninvasive circulation testing at our practice when it’s needed. We look at your shoes, because they are often where the pressure comes from. We measure and photograph the wound so later visits can be compared with this one, and we often take an X-ray on site.

Most wounds are cleaned (debrided) and dressed at the first visit and protected with the right offloading device. You leave with a plan for caring for the wound at home and a date for your next visit.

• What to expect

Usually every week or two while the wound heals. At each visit we clean and trim the wound, measure it to see whether it is getting smaller, and adjust the plan. We see you sooner if there is any sign of infection.

A wound that hasn’t improved after about four weeks of good care calls for a fresh look: at blood flow, infection and pressure, and at whether surgery would help it close.

• Wound care visits

Debridement means trimming away callus, dead tissue and debris so the wound can heal from healthy tissue underneath. It is one of the most important parts of wound care, and it is usually repeated at follow-up visits.

Many people with diabetic nerve damage feel little or nothing. If you do have feeling in the area, tell us before we start, and we’ll talk about ways to make it more comfortable. Deep or infected wounds may need debridement in an operating room instead.

• Wound debridement

Often, yes. Many wounds need a fresh dressing between visits, and we explain how to change it and what to watch for. If changing it yourself isn’t practical, tell us: a family member can be shown how, and a visiting nurse can sometimes be arranged through a home health agency.

Pressure from standing and walking is the most common reason an ulcer on the sole of the foot won’t heal. For many of these ulcers, guidelines recommend a knee-high device that stays on day and night, because a boot that can be removed tends to come off at home, where many of the day’s steps are taken.

We fit the device at the office and teach you how to move around safely while wearing it. Other wounds may need a removable boot, a surgical shoe or padding instead; we explain which you need and why.

• Total contact casting and non-removable offloading
• Offloading boots and footwear

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy means breathing pure oxygen inside a pressurized chamber, in a series of sessions at a hyperbaric center. Guidelines suggest it may be considered for some diabetic foot ulcers that haven’t healed despite good standard care, while noting that trial results are mixed. If we think it could help your wound, we discuss it with you and refer you to a hyperbaric center.

• Hyperbaric oxygen therapy

Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department for redness that is spreading, especially with fever or chills; black or gray tissue; foul-smelling drainage; a foot that is suddenly cold, pale or blue; or if you feel very unwell. Numbness from diabetes can hide pain, so don’t wait for a wound to hurt before acting on these signs.

• A red, hot, swollen foot with diabetes

Surgery is often the step that lets a stubborn wound heal. It may be needed to drain an infection and remove dead tissue, to remove infected bone, to correct a bent toe or bony prominence that keeps reopening the same ulcer, or to stabilize and rebuild a collapsing Charcot foot.

Dr. Ozturk is a Foot and Ankle Surgeon and performs these operations himself, so the surgeon planning your operation already knows your wound from your visits.

• Limb salvage surgery

Operations take place at a hospital or surgery center where Dr. Ozturk has privileges. Some limb salvage operations are planned day surgery. Others, such as surgery for a serious infection, are done in the hospital, sometimes in more than one stage, with a stay that depends on the infection and your overall health. We tell you what to expect for your operation.

• Preparing for limb salvage surgery

A wound needs blood flow to heal. We check the circulation in your feet, including noninvasive circulation testing at our practice. If blood flow is reduced, we refer you to a vascular specialist for further imaging and, when needed, a procedure to open or bypass the narrowed arteries. We coordinate the timing with your wound care and any surgery, because restoring blood flow first is often what makes healing possible.

• Peripheral artery disease and foot wounds
• Restoring blood flow

Yes. We review your records, imaging and circulation tests, examine you, and explain what we think can be saved and how. Sometimes a foot can be saved by treating infection, blood flow and pressure together. Sometimes a carefully planned partial foot amputation is the surest way to heal and keep walking, and that is limb salvage too. Either way, you’ll understand your options before you decide.

• A limb salvage second opinion

A healed diabetic foot ulcer can come back, so the goal changes from healing the foot to keeping it in remission: protective shoes and custom inserts, checking your feet every day, regular check-ups, and treating calluses and pressure points early. Sometimes a small operation that removes the pressure point lowers the chance of the ulcer returning.

• Keeping a healed foot in remission