These are the questions that come up most often by phone and WhatsApp. If yours is not here, write to us: if it comes up again, it will end up on this page.
Before your appointment
- How do I book an appointment?
- From the calendar on this website, choosing a day and time within the clinic’s opening hours, or by phone and WhatsApp on +34 698 901 061. The calendar shows the opening hours, not the diary: what you send is a request, and the clinic confirms the time by email.
- Once I send the form, is the appointment confirmed?
- No. The form sends a request, which the clinic reviews and answers by email, either accepting it or suggesting another time. The appointment is confirmed when you receive that email, not when you send the request.
- Where is the clinic?
- At Calle Ifach 1, in Altea (03590). The entrance is at street level, with no steps.
- What should I bring to the first appointment?
- The shoes you wear every day —they are half the information—, any insoles you currently use, and any previous reports or scans relating to your feet. If you take medication, a list of it also helps.
- Do you see children?
- Yes. Children’s podiatry is one of the usual appointments, and the criteria for assessing a growing foot depend on age: some things are normal at three and not at seven.
- I have diabetes. Should I mention it when booking?
- Yes, and it matters. In a foot with diabetes, sensation may be reduced and circulation compromised, so both the treatment and how often the foot is checked are adapted. The same applies if you are on anticoagulant treatment.
- How do I change or cancel an appointment?
- By letting us know on WhatsApp or by phone on +34 698 901 061. The sooner you tell us, the sooner someone else who is waiting can take that slot.
- When should I not wait to book?
- If there is a wound that will not heal, pus, a red or warm area, an unpleasant smell, a change in the colour of the skin or a nail, or pain that stops you standing on the foot. With diabetes or circulatory problems, any of those signs should be seen as soon as possible.
- Do you make home visits?
- Yes. If you cannot get to the clinic — because of reduced mobility, or because leaving the house has become difficult — the podiatrist comes to you. The service covers the towns of the Marina Baixa and the Marina Alta. The home visit podiatry page explains what is treated at home and how to arrange the visit.
- When should I see a podiatrist?
- When something in your foot hurts, bothers you in your shoes or has changed in appearance: hard skin that keeps coming back, nails that dig in or thicken, flaking skin, pain when you put weight on the foot, or unusual wear on your shoes. And you do not have to wait for it to hurt: with diabetes, with circulatory problems or if you play sport regularly, a periodic check is part of looking after your feet.
- What is the difference between a podiatrist and a sports podiatrist?
- In qualification, none: in Spain podiatry is a university health-science degree and anyone practising it is registered with the professional college, whether or not their patient plays sport. “Sports podiatry” is not a separate profession but an area of work within the same one: it looks at how the sporting movement, the surface and the footwear load the foot, and at the problems that come from repetition. Here it is one of the areas the clinic works in.
- How often should I have a chiropody appointment?
- There is no interval that works for everyone, which is why this site does not give a number: it depends on how fast your nails and hard skin grow, on your footwear, on your activity and on whether there is diabetes or a circulatory problem. What we do is tell you at the appointment, with your foot in front of us, and adjust it as things change.
- How is an ingrown toenail treated?
- At the appointment the part of the nail that is digging in is removed and the nail groove is cleaned, after which the pain usually eases quickly. Then we look at why it is digging in —the shape of the nail, how it is cut, the footwear or the way the foot loads— because that is what decides whether it comes back. When it does come back time after time, there is a surgical option in the clinic itself under local anaesthetic, acting on the edge that keeps recurring. Which one applies is decided by examining the foot, not over the phone.
- Do insoles fix foot pain?
- Not always, and promising that would not be truthful. An insole acts on how load is spread as you put weight on the foot, so it helps when the pain comes from there; if it comes from something else —an infection, a skin or nail lesion, something that is not mechanical— it is not the treatment. That is why insoles are not made without a prior gait and footprint assessment: first we find out where the pain comes from, then we decide whether an insole is part of the answer.