Is a podiatric nail or skin condition causing you pain or making you too uncomfortable or embarrassed to go barefoot? Don’t resign yourself to living with discomfort or ignore the issue and hope it goes away. Skin and nail concerns are more than just aesthetic. Healthy skin and toenails help protect the body from infection, making proper care crucial to achieving and maintaining happy feet that look and feel their best.
Alpine Foot & Ankle Clinic provides comprehensive care for skin and nail conditions. Our board-certified podiatrist, Dr. Gregg Neibauer, offers a broad range of minimally invasive treatments, including laser therapies for stubborn fungal toenails and plantar warts. Located in Missoula, we serve patients throughout Montana and northern Idaho.
Don’t put up with painful or embarrassing nail or skin problems—get world-class care and sought-after solutions right here under the Big Sky!
Nail and Skin Conditions We Treat
Dr. Neibauer provides prompt, effective care to help patients resolve numerous skin and toenail issues, including:
- Athlete’s foot: Also known as tinea pedis, athlete's foot is a fungal skin infection that causes a red, itchy, scaly rash that typically starts between the toes and spreads to the rest of the foot. The condition is extremely uncomfortable and highly contagious, thriving in warm, moist environments like showers, locker rooms, and swimming pools.
- Blisters, corns, and calluses: Prolonged friction, pressure, or irritation to the skin can cause hardened corns and calluses or fluid-filled blisters to form on your feet, making weight-bearing and walking painful. If you have diabetes, peripheral artery disease (PAD), or another underlying health problem, removing blisters, calluses, or corns on your own can increase your risk of infection and other complications. Schedule an appointment with our specialist.
- Excessively dry skin: Extreme dryness can lead to heel fissures—painful cracks in the skin on the bottom of the heel. These cracks break the body’s protective barrier, potentially allowing harmful bacteria to invade.
- Fungal toenails: Onychomycosis is a fungal infection that affects your toenails’ health and appearance. The fungus enters the body through a cut or cracks in the skin and multiplies underneath the nail, resulting in discolored, brittle, thickened, or crumbly toenails.
- Ingrown toenails: When the edge of a nail grows into the surrounding skin, redness, tenderness, and pain can result. Ingrown toenails that become infected or recurring can be particularly bothersome.
- Plantar warts: These rough bumps form on the soles of your feet due to an infection of the human papillomavirus (HPV), which enters the body through a small cut or crack in the skin. Not only can warts make standing, walking, and running painful, but they’re often resistant to home care and can continue for two or more years without professional intervention.
Our podiatrist can also address podiatric psoriasis, skin cancer, excessive sweating, and bad-smelling feet. Contact us to schedule an evaluation.
Our Wide-Ranging Therapies for Toenail and Skin Problems Include State-of-the-Art Options
At Alpine Foot & Ankle Clinic, Dr. Neibauer understands that, though they may seem relatively minor, podiatric skin and nail issues can make you majorly miserable. He offers effective and efficient solutions focused on non- and minimally invasive treatments, such as laser therapies, that can be difficult to find in rural areas like ours.
After discussing your symptoms and examining your feet, Dr. Neibauer creates a personalized treatment plan to resolve your toenail or skin condition as swiftly and safely as possible. Depending on your diagnosis, your custom recovery plan might include:
- Oral medications
- Topical curated medications
- Partial or total toenail removal
- Laser therapy
We also provide routine nail trimming, corn and callus removal, and safely drain and dress blisters for elderly patients or those with underlying health concerns.
Laser Therapy Offers Numerous Advantages
Class IV laser therapy is a revolutionary treatment that harnesses the healing power of concentrated light beams to jumpstart your recovery. During the treatment, Dr. Neibauer uses specialized wavelengths of light to penetrate the surface of your nails and skin to stimulate the immune system and help eliminate fungal nail infections and warts.
Laser therapy for fungal toenail infections and plantar warts is non-invasive and fast, with individual sessions typically lasting less than 30 minutes. Even better, the treatment is painless for most patients and requires no significant recovery time, allowing you to return to your favorite activities sooner.