We offer foot health care services on a private (non-NHS) basis ranging from regular care to assistance with more acute conditions. We have a clinic at The Hive, Park Barn Guildford and offer home visits in areas around Camberley, Woking, Bagshot, and Guildford. Please contact us for details. We provide services with high standards of sanitisation and sterilisation to minimise the risk of infections – read more about why this is so important and is not always the case elsewhere.
Initial Appointment
For new clients, we will start by taking a complete history and perform a neurological assessment of the foot. We will examine all areas of the foot and nails and find out from you any areas of concern.
We will talk to you about other health conditions which may affect your feet or your ability to care for your feet for example. Based on this we will tailor a plan of care.
We do not charge extra for this initial, longer appointment as we believe it is an essential part of providing high quality care.
We will then carry out initial treatment as needed within the time of an appointment. It may take more than one appointment initially depending on the extent of conditions to be treated.
Routine Appointments
At a routine appointment we can typically address various issues within a single appointment (for example toenail cutting, calluses, a corn etc).
This does of course depend on the severity and difficulty of each area, but we will always try to do as much as possible.
Some treatments may require additional products so that you can self-manage problems between appointments.
Some of these are available for you to buy yourself or from us as you prefer.
Others may be more specialised, much more effective and only available from practitioners like Footpal.
Toenail Cutting
We cut toenails using very high quality clippers. In many cases we may need to reduce thickening of the nails first. We do this using a series of specialised instruments operated by a high quality podiatry drill. Our drills are very quiet and vibration free. They also have built-in vacuum systems so that dust is removed at the same time. Overall, they help to make the whole process of having your feet treated, a treat, not a chore.
Corns
A corn is a plaque of hard skin that exerts extra pressure on to the soft tissue layers beneath the skin causing pain and discomfort. Corns normally develop over time from excessive pressure or rubbing. They can happen on any part of the foot. The rubbing might be caused by poor-fitting shoes, an unusual gait or a foot deformity. During your visit we remove the corn. We will then help you treat the underlying cause. This might be by using padding to offload excessive pressure, offering advice on suitable footwear. Sometimes orthotics can be used to ensure long lasting comfort.
Calluses and Fissures
Fissures are moist or dry cracks in the skin. The most common site for moist fissures is between toes and for dry fissures is around the edge of the heel. They can be superficial or may involve deeper layers of skin leading to infection. We can look at the underlying causes which may be an existing chronic condition such as diabetes or a chronic athlete’s foot infection. We can then treat or manage the cause accordingly.
Athlete’s Foot Treatment
Athlete’s foot is a very common conditon which is caused by infection by a fungus. It causes flaky dry skin, itching and burning on the feet. Whilst it is reasonably easy to treat, it often will return. The fungus also spreads easily to nails where treatment is more difficult and lengthy.
We are here to give you advice on the best products to use and steps you can take to avoid re-infection.
Cracked Heels
Cracked heels may not only look unslightly and be uncomfortable, but they can cause pain and difficulty walking. The broken skin also increases risk of infections.
We will pare away any callus that may have built up around the cracks. Then we will offload pressure using padding. We use a specialist moisturising cream which is formulated to help hydrate the skin and promote healing.
Ingrown Toenail
This is where a spike of nail has pierced the skin causing pain, redness, swelling, discharge, and excessive tissue growth. Causes range from incorrect nail cutting, poor fitting footwear, an injury, excessive sweating, etc.
We remove the splinter of the nail taking care not to avoid further discomfort or infection. Then we apply a specialist dressing to help healing. And we will offer advice regarding any further follow up and steps to avoid recurrence.
Skin Care
Skin care is not just about how our skin looks. Our skin protects our feet and provides a barrier to infection.
But…it gets a really tough time on our feet. For many of us it carries our whole weight day after day, month after month.
It needs a bit of help and care so that it can look after us. We can help with this and help you learn how to look after skin yourself.
Fungal Nail Infections
We already offer treatment for fungal nail infections which can be notoriously difficult to eradicate with home remedies. We have been testing and will soon launch a new specialist package service based on patented technology. Watch out for more details here – or drop us a line and we will make sure you are one of the first to know when we are ready to go!
Supply of simple orthotics and other custom devices (at extra cost agreed in advance)
When we treat some of the issues above, we will always try to identify the root cause. Most problems do not happen without a reason. This can be anything from poorly fitting footwear through to a biomechanical issue somewhere else (e.g. the leg, hips etc). We will then see what can be done by you and us to help reduce or remove this root cause. Otherwise the problem will keep occurring.
Some underlying issues may not be possible to remove, but we can usually improve matters. Hardly any of us are born with perfect bodies which don’t cause us problems at some stage with our feet. We can produce devices which are worn within footwear to compensate and/or accommodate problems.
This might be a medical insole (orthotic) to provide support, a custom made pad to reposition toes or even just some padding to prevent parts of the foot which are out of shape rubbing on footwear leading to corns etc.
Chiropodists and Podiatrists and Foot Health Practitioners
The type of services we offer are often called chiropody or podiatry by most people, but we are actually foot health practitioners. Chiropody and podiatry (the same thing) are names which are protected by law and can only be used to describe services provided by Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered practitioners.
We are not one of these. Our aim is to deal with more routine and less severe acute conditions more cost-effectively. That does not mean you are getting a worse service. We take huge care and pride to offer a very high standard of care. But it does mean that we will sometimes say that it is not suitable for us to treat a particular issue.
We are careful to assess each client’s needs. When appropriate we will refer clients to other suitable health professionals (e.g. a doctor, chiropodist or podiatrist). This might be for example, when surgery could be needed or there are more complex issues stemming from elsewhere in the leg, hips or back. We are always happy to honestly discuss all of this with you and our aim is always to ensure you get the right advice and treatment whether or not that is by us.
Prices
£41 for a typical 30-40 minute treatment session at our clinic.
We offer a small number of home visits from £55 per visit with a discount available if we are treating two people at the same address during one visit. We may sometimes need to charge slightly more for further afield visits, but we will always agree this in advance – no nasty surprises. Please enquire for details.
Please note that we may charge for missed appointments and appointments cancelled with less than 24 hours notice.