Category: Blog

DIABETIC WOUND CARE IN SAN JOSE-TREATMENT FOR DIABETIC WOUNDS

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

Silicon Valley’s South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute physicians are recognized as the leading wound care doctors in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Kokinos is the current medical director at both the Verity/O’Connor Wound Care Center in San Jose and at St Louise Hospital Wound Care Center in Morgan Hill, CA. She is recognized as one of the regional experts in Northern California and provides cutting edge treatment for the care and treatment of Non Healing Diabetic wounds. Together with her partner Dr. Brad Hill who served as chief of Kaiser Hospital’s entire Northern California Vascular Surgery Department for over 17 years, South Bay Vascular Surgeons provide unmatched cutting edge and compassionate care to patients suffering from non-healing diabetic foot wounds.

Millions of Americans suffer from wounds that don’t heal. It’s a problem most don’t even think about until they or a loved one develops this type of wound. After all, every one of us has fallen or hurt ourselves with a resulting wound. It generally hurts for a little, we put a little Neosporin or a band-aid on it, and forget about it. Pretty soon, it is gone, and there is a little or big scar in its place. However, as we get older, and develop medical issues, this healing may not happen. A wound that has been “open” for more than four weeks, is called a chronic wound, and often needs the special attention of a wound care center. In these centers, team of specially trained nurses and doctors use a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic tools to help promote healing.

Diabetics must pay special attention to their feet and ankles and it is vitally important to NOT ignore a small wound when it develops. Diabetic wounds, when left untreated, are the cause of 85% of the amputations that occur in these patients. Once these ulcers develop, they often DO NOT HEAL just by putting a Band-Aid over them, or even with wound care and ointments prescribed by your primary care doctor.

Several different problems can contribute to wound healing. The most common of these is a circulation issue. Either the arteries are blocked that supply oxygen and nutrients to help heal the wound, or the veins that promote drainage of toxins and fluids are not functioning properly. This can occur either because they have leaky valves, or because they too are blocked. In general, it has been discovered that about 70% of wounds seen in wound care centers have an underlying vascular issue. This problem is most often an issue with leg or foot wounds. For this reason all of these should be consulted on by a vascular surgeon, a specialist in treating circulation problems. Simple tests, most of which are not invasive, can reveal problems in the arteries and veins. It is very important to do this, because treating these issues alone can greatly improve the wound healing rate.

If you suffer from non-healing leg or ankle wounds, especially if you are a diabetic, call the diabetic wound care experts at South Bay Vascular Center to schedule an appointment to have these wounds evaluated. We offer hope when others say there is none. 408-858-3586.

WHY DIABETIC FOOT WOUNDS DON’T HEAL

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

One of the main complications of diabetes is the development of diabetic foot ulcers. Diabetic foot ulcers occur in 15% of all patients with diabetes. There are four primary contributing factors to the developments of these ulcers.

  • The presence of peripheral neuropathy (loss of feeling over the toes);
  • Changes in the architecture (shape) of the foot causing it to have pressure on areas ot built for it;
  • Poor blood flow to the foot;
  • A decreased ability to fight infection in the foot.

The main reason why diabetic wounds do not heal is due to lack of blood flow to the ulcer and ongoing pressure to the wound

Diabetics must pay special attention to their feet and ankles and it is vitally important to NOT ignore a small wound when it develops. Diabetic wounds, when left untreated, are the cause of 85% of the amputations that occur in these patients. Once these ulcers develop, they often DO NOT HEAL just by putting a Band-Aid over them, or even with wound care and ointments prescribed by your primary care doctor.

Care of Diabetic Foot Wounds

It is very important to see both a podiatrist (foot specialist) and a vascular surgeon (blood flow specialist) to examine your foot. These doctors can help with special treatments such as debridement (cleaning the wound), off-loading (taking pressure of the wound) and improvement of blood flow to help your wound heal. Debridement helps remove dead tissue and bacteria from the wound. Off-loading and special inserts or shoes allow the pressure to be removed from the wound so that it can heal. Diabetes causes blockages with calcium deposits inside your small blood vessels, which are below the knee, and this prevents oxygen and nutrients from getting to your feet. The vascular surgeons at South Bay Vascular Center have a special interest and expertise in opening these blood vessels in order to bring flow to your toes and feet that can help save patients from amputation. If you or anyone you know suffers from diabetes and are experiencing foot wounds that do not heal, call us immediately at 408-376-3626 to schedule an appointment to have these wounds evaluated.

GILROY CA. NON-HEALING LEG WOUNDS AND VASCULAR SURGERY

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

Chronic wounds (wounds that do not heal after four weeks) are a silent epidemic in the United States and affect almost 7 million people. If not healed in a timely fashion, they can lead to loss of limb and in some instances can lead to amputation or death.

Many patients suffering with non-healing leg wounds are seen in wound care centers for the treatment of their foot and leg ulcers but unfortunately, many times the physicians in these wound care centers are quick to put on expensive savs or other advanced treatment options without treating the underlying circulatory issue.

The best wound care centers treat by guidelines rather than simply treat the symptom of what might be a deeper,underlying condition. Guidelines are a scientifically proven set of steps that have been shown to help wounds heal faster.

For EVERY non-healing wound on the leg or foot, the very first step must be to assess BLOOD FLOW. This means that every patient with a leg or foot wound that hasn’t healed in four weeks MUST be seen by both a vascular surgeon AND a podiatrist (foot specialist).

A vascular surgeon will assess the circulation and order appropriate diagnostic tests, such as vascular ultrasounds to look at the blood flow. This is important to examine, as a large number of the patients who have ulcers, have not previously been diagnosed with an arterial or venous problem. Without fixing the underlying cause of the ulcer, even if it does heal initially, it will soon recur, and cause further problems. It is important for patients to take an active role in asking for these referrals so that the problem does not progress and become a wound that can lead to an amputation.

Recognized as one of the most experienced and respected vascular surgeons in Northern California, Dr. Kokinos is focused on restoring the circulatory health of their patients thereby helping them heal their wounds and return to a normal way of life.

With offices in both Gilroy and Campbell, CA, South Bay Vascular’s Board Certified Vascular Surgeons bring cutting edge wound care treatment to the South Bay communities of Gilroy, Hollister, Salinas and the Hwy 152 corridor to the Central Valley. With a state of the Art Vascular Ultrasound Lab now located in Gilroy at our 8420 Church Street office expert vascular care is simplified as patients can now get world class care in their own community.

If you or anyone you know suffers from a Non-Healing leg wound or ulcers of the foot and leg, call our offices at 408-376-3626 to schedule an appointment.

AWARD WINNING WOUND CARE IN SAN JOSE

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

The O’Connor Wound Care Center, which celebrates it’s 25th Anniversary this year, was the site of a ceremony on Thursday, June 18th 2019 honoring it with a Commendation from the City of San Jose. The honorable Sam Liccardo as well as all the City Council Members were involved in recognizing the O’Connor Wound Care Center for distinguished service to the citizens of San Jose. The plaque was presented by Council Member Dev Davis to Dr. Polly Kokinos of South Bay Vascular Center, who is the Medical Director of the O’Connor Wound Care Center, as well as to the entire staff of the Wound Care Center.

Chronic wounds are a silent epidemic in the United States affecting almost 7 million people. If not healed in a timely fashion, they can lead to loss of limb and life. The wound care center was started 25 years by Drs. Bruce Lehrman, Peter Schubart, and Jude Roussere, who are still active in it today. It is a testament to their vision and understanding that chronic wounds are best treated by a multidisciplinary approach and by a team that focuses on them. Their are 10 physicians from 6 different specialties all of whom are have special training in wound care, advanced treatment modalities for wounds, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Our team of twelve nurses and five additional staff members are committed to these patients, and several of them have worked at the center for decades. We follow published clinical practice guidelines to ensure the best outcomes and our wound healing rates are over 98%.

We are the only JHACO accredited center in the Bay Area, and are proud to offer advanced therapies such as skin substitutes, the LUNA laser system, and Hyperbaric Oxygen treatment for difficult to heal chronic wounds. We have treated and healed over 15,000 patients.

Should your patient need our expert help, please call us at 408-947-2804 for an appointment.

GILROY, CA. VASCULAR SURGERY CARE

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute is a full service vascular surgery clinic and accredited vascular ultrasound testing lab located at 8420 Church in Gilroy, CA. Dr. Polly Kokinos offers cutting edge care to patients suffering from vascular and arterial conditions and continue their 20 year commitment of caring for patients in the South Bay.

Patients suffering from swollen, aching legs; painful, non-healing leg wounds; blood clots (DVT); dialysis access problems; clotted grafts; varicose veins and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) no longer need to travel to the greater San Jose area as local care continues to expand into the South Bay. World class surgeons, bringing state of the art technology offer a whole new level of Vascular care to the greater Gilroy, Hollister, Salinas and Hwy 152 corridor to the Central Valley Community.

Recognized as one of the most experienced and respected vascular surgeons in Northern California, the practice of Dr. Kokinos is focused on restoring the circulatory health of their patients thereby helping them return to a normal way of life. Together, our surgeons have performed more complex vascular procedures than any other Vascular Surgeons in Northern California. Recognized as San Jose’s and Silicon Valley’s most respected varicose vein experts Dr. Kokinos has performed over 20,000 vein procedures over the past 25 years and are not only the most highly trained vein specialists in San Jose, they are also the most experienced varicose vein experts in all of San Jose, Silicon Valley and the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

Call today to schedule an appointment at 408-376-3626.

TREATING DIABETIC FOOT ULCERS

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

Millions of patients every year are seen in wound care centers for the treatment of their foot and leg ulcers. This is absolutely the correct place for anyone who has had a wound that is “non-healing” or “chronic”. That is, a wound that is still there after four weeks. Unfortunately, sometimes the physicians in these wound care centers are quick to put on expensive savs or other advanced treatment options. After all, isn’t that why the patients go to the wound care center instead of just their physician’s office? Partially. Good wound care centers treat by guidelines.

Guidelines are a scientifically proven set of steps that have been shown to help wounds heal faster. For EVERY wound on the leg or foot, the very first step is to assess BLOOD FLOW. This means that every patient with a leg or foot wound that hasn’t healed in four weeks MUST be seen by both a vascular surgeon AND a podiatrist (foot specialist).

The vascular surgeon will assess the circulation and order appropriate diagnostic tests, such as vascular ultrasounds to look at the blood flow. This is important to examine, as a large number of the patients who have ulcers, have not previously been diagnosed with an arterial or venous problem. Without fixing the underlying cause of the ulcer, even if it does heal initially, it will soon recur, and cause further problems. It is important for patients to take an active role in asking for these referrals so that the problem does not progress and become a wound that can lead to an amputation.

If you or anyone you know is diabetic and suffers from non-healing leg wounds call today to schedule an appointment at our office. South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute Surgeons are recognized as the regional experts in wound care healing and amputation prevention. Our Vascular Surgeons have performed more lower extremity re-vascularizations than any other surgeons in the region and offer hope when others say there is none.

Call today at 408-376-3626

USE IT OR LOSE IT!

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

Now may be the best time to ” Love Your Legs Again”. Many corporate flexible health spending accounts create an ideal opportunity to give yourself that special gift of being able show off your legs again. Call today. Time is limited. If you’ve met your 2017 deductible getting back your beautiful might be a whole lot easier that you thought.

We can help!

408-376-3626

South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute: Northern California’s most experienced varicose vein doctors and treatment centers.

A MULTI-CULTURAL APPROACH TO VASCULAR CARE

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute, with offices in Campbell and Gilroy CA., is recognized as one of the leading vascular surgery practices in Northern California. In addition to their cutting edge work in amputation prevention, South Bay Vascular Center is widely recognized as the leading center for the diagnosis and treatment of iliac-vein compression, medically know as May-Thurners disease, in the whole of the Western United States. Using the most advanced diagnostic imagining technology, Intra Vascular Ultrasound (IVUS), Dr’s Kokinos and Pineda have treated more patients for this mostly undiagnosed cause of leg swelling….a condition which often presents in patients as left leg swelling, than any other medical practice in the region.

Delivering exceptional care, however, involves much more than simply being the best practitioner. Exceptional patient care demands compassionate care. Exceptional patient care is born of a philosophy that understands the patient apart from their disease….it requires an understanding of how disease impacts every part of a patients life…their lifestyle, their family, their friends and most importantly, their future. Communicating this understanding to patients is difficult in the best of circumstances and when patients come from a different cultural system, communication becomes even more difficult.

At South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute, we pride ourselves in being able to communicate with our patients across multiple cultural and language barriers. To this point, our physicians and staff speak many different languages and represent a diversity of cultural and faith traditions. As native speakers South Bay Vascular Staff can communicate with our patients in the following languages:

  • Spanish
  • Greek
  • German
  • Hindi
  • Farsi
  • Russian
  • English
  • Tagalog
  • French
  • Turkish

Additionally, our staff is sensitive to many diverse cultural traditions, faith based gender sensitivities and ethnic differences.

South Bay Vascular Center is a community based surgical practice operating at the forefront of vascular medicine. Our physicians provide unmatched medical care by providing the best possible outcomes in the most difficult of circumstances. In our private, nationally accredited state of the art ambulatory surgery center and vascular ultrasonography laboratory we treat each and every patient with the utmost of respect allowing them to maintain their dignity in difficult times

Large medical systems, often referred to as “Big Box” medicine, are an operationally efficient and a very profitable way to practice medicine but delivering exceptional care is difficult as the underlying drivers are often constrained by larger “business” decisions instead of what’s in the best interest of the patient. At South Bay Vascular, we operate with a care philosophy wholly different than big box medicine and as such, provide an unmatched level of care not found anywhere else in the region.

A multi-cultural approach to providing exceptional vascular care is just one of the many ways that the physicians and staff at South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute strive to be the best at what we do. Together with providing the most sophisticated medical care we deliver exceptional patient care in the most difficult of circumstances.

If you our anyone else that you know suffers from problems in any part of their circulatory system, call us today to learn how we can help.

DR. KOKINOS RECOGNIZED AS A THOUGHT LEADER AT ANNUAL DIALYSIS ACCESS CONFERENCE

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

Dr. Kokinos speaks on complex dialysis access issues at the annual CIDA conference (Controversies in Dialysis Access) in San Diego, California. CiDA’s accredited scientific program provides the highest quality of comprehensive, interactive education for all clinicians involved in the care and treatment of dialysis patients. Recognized as a thought leader in Dialysis Access, Dr. Kokinos is proud to be on the forefront of advances in dialysis access. Together with her partner Dr. Carlos Pineda, South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute physicians brings their patients the highest level of clinical training and surgical expertise.

South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute is recognized the premiere dialysis access center in the Silicon Valley. As the only dialysis access center staffed by local, full time vascular surgeons in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, South Bay Vascular offers dialysis access patients immediate access to care in their nationally accredited ambulatory surgery center. Supported by an on-site ICAVL accredited Vascular Ultrasound Lab and full time RVT’s (Registered Vascular Ultrasound Technicians). South Bay Vascular Center provides cutting edge care by community doctors dedicated to the long term health of their patients and who are locally based to ensure their patients are treated with dignity and respect.

Physicians and patient families can reach our Dialysis Access Facility by calling

1-855-WE-D-CLOT to schedule an appointment.

WOUND CARE AND HYPERBARIC OXYGEN

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

Over the last few decades the treatment of chronic wounds (wounds that haven’t healed in 4 weeks) has become increasingly complicated and expensive. Thousands of specialized “Wound Care Centers” have cropped up across the country. The idea behind these is founded on the fact that getting these types of wounds to heal often requires physicians and nurses of different backgrounds and with special training. These centers are often made up of physicians such as podiatrists, general surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, vascular surgeons, plastic surgeons, infectious disease doctors, diabetic specialists, etc. The reason for that is that it is often the underlying medical issues such as diabetes, poor nutrition, the presence of infections, the use of drugs to treat diseases such as Lupus or Rheumatoid arthritis, that contribute to the poor healing of wounds. In addition, multiple products, surgical and nonsurgical techniques, and “advanced wound care therapies” are used when wounds just won’t heal.

Silicon Valley’s South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute doctors are recognized as the leading wound care doctors in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Recognized as the one of the leading wound care doctors in the country, Dr. Kokinos serves as the medical director of both the Verity/O’Connor Wound Care Center in San Jose and the St Louise Hospital Wound Care Center in Morgan Hill, CA. Dr. Kokinos brings her cutting edge expertise in wound care to patients from all over California who come for treatment at these facilities.

One of the most “hyped” of these treatments is the use of Hyperbaric Oxygen. This is 100% oxygen (normal air is about 21%) that is pressurized in a special tank and breathed by the patient over a period of about 90-120 minutes. This is done daily for thirty to forty treatments. It has been shown that this increases oxygen delivery to the tissues around the wound, and thus increases healing. Originally used to treat “the bends” after a scuba diving accident, today, most “dives” in the hyperbaric chamber are done for wound healing. Many insurers pay for this IF

  • The treatment is used to treat certain classes of wounds and
  • The wound has failed to improve after four weeks of standard therapy.

It is critically important that those two conditions are met, as hyperbaric treatment is not only quite expensive, but does have some significant side effects associated with it.

BE ADVISED: Often times wound care centers will promote this type of advanced therapy before adequately evaluating/treating the patient for the underlying factors that can contribute to non-healing. This is particularly true for vascular causes and is why before beginning any hyperbaric oxygen treatments patients must be seen and evaluated by a Vascular Surgeon. Vascular Surgeons are uniquely trained and qualified to evaluate the state of a patient’s underlying circulatory issues and patients should only agree to this kind of therapy only after speaking with their vascular surgeon.

Previously, vascular therapies often entailed long, dangerous operations to open blocked arteries. However, now, most of these treatments are minimally invasive (done through a poke in the groin or foot) and are often done in the office. Almost all patients, no matter how old nor what other medical conditions they may have, are candidates for these safe procedures.

Hyperbaric oxygen is also used for wounds in areas that have been radiated or that are the result of diabetes. Again, it is critical to optimize all other factors before progressing to “diving” or hyperbaric treatments.