FOOT CRYOSURGERY

Jasmine Lewellyn kids that she is a shopaholic. She loves spending hours searching for the best fashion bargains, but her feet just can’t keep up.
“I love buying shoes and clothes. But I just have to go into a store and I start sweating, because of the pain,” says Jasmine Lewellyn. Foot cryosurgery offers relief from pain to thousands of patients like Jasmine.

Jasmine has been struggling with the condition known as plantar fasciitis or heel spur syndrome. “It feels like there is a ball in that area. And it hurts like there is a pin sticking into my foot.” says Jasmine.
Desperate for relief, Jasmine tried foot cryosurgery.
“It introduces the effects of ice directly to the trigger points and gives you all the effects of the anti-inflammatory effects,” explains podiatrist, Dr. Oliver Zong. Heel pain emanates from the ligament in the foot known as the plantar fascia.
“Its weakest point is its attachment to the heel bone, and when it becomes inflamed or when little micro-tears occur in that ligament then you have the symptoms of pain,” says Dr. Zong.
Foot cryosurgery which recently received FDA approval, uses a precise freezing technique which actually blocks the nerves causing pain in the foot.
“What you’re trying to do is to have the ice form around the actual nerve itself. In doing so it kills the outer layer, or causes the outer layers of the nerve to degenerate and thus you decrease the nerve’s abilities to transmit the signal of pain,” says the doctor.
Once the trigger point causing pain is identified, a small incision, around 1-2 millimeters is made. A cryo-probe is then introduced which freezes and destroys the nerves and reduces inflammation.
“Over the course of the next couple of months, the nerve regenerates and the thought is that when it regenerates, it regenerates without the inflammation, leaving you pain free,” says Dr. Zong.
As for Jasmine, just a day after the foot cryosurgery she’s back out pounding the pavement on the hunt for her next fashion find.
“I have no problems walking, and no pain,” says Jasmine Lewellyn.
According to the doctor, right after foot cryosurgery, patients can wear regular shoes, and the day after the procedure they can remove the dressing and get the foot wet. Usually within a day or two, patients can resume their normal activities.