Is this the perfect pedi? Nail enthusiasts ditch local salons for medical pedicures.

November 10, 2023

When putting your best foot forward, your local mani-pedi salon may be a step behind. Women hoping for the perfect pedicure—and, perhaps, “Barbie feet”—are ditching their neighborhood nail spots and turning to an unlikely, less glamorous destination: med spas, reports the New York Post.

Rather than a simple soak, file, and paint, New York City beauty are instead opting for medical-grade foot services.

Medical pedicures have typically been a specialized health service for people who suffer from serious health issues such as diabetes and arthritis. However, the foot service—which typically costs $200—has gained the popularity of a younger crowd seeking the best pedicure of their lives.

Medi Pedi NYC in Midtown has seen a 75% uptick in younger customers—from 18 to 30—looking for rejuvenated feet.

“A lot of people were calling us and asking for availability,” Enajeona Carrero, an employee of Medi Pedi NYC, told the Post. “We were kinda confused but realized viral TikTok videos were the reason.”

The high demand pushed the medical spa to hire two additional nail technicians and expand its facility from three to five rooms to accommodate demand. Carrero said the viral videos have kept the med spa booked and busy, with some clients having to wait nearly four weeks to be seen for an appointment.

The TikTok-loving generation discovered the foot service when influencer Cat Quinn posted a TikTok review of her medical pedicure experience at Medi Pedi NYC, saying it helped her achieve the “perfect Barbie feet.”

A “medical pedicure” addresses issues such as athlete’s foot, corns, calluses, cracked heels, nail fungus, ingrown toenails, and nail discoloration. The non-invasive treatment bridges podiatry and basic nail care with a focus on assessing and treating foot issues.

Quinn’s now-viral clip with nearly 5 million views—not to mention, #medicalpedicure has over 160 million hits on TikTok—grabbed the attention of many Gen Zers, who were ready to book their appointments.

Medi Pedi NYC’s CEO Marcela Correa told the Post that she has applauded the uptick in younger clients since she advocates for anyone striving for healthy feet.

“It’s something that people get bullied for, so they don’t want to share their feet with anybody or be seen by anybody,” the licensed medical nail technician said. “People are always laughing about other people’s foot conditions and 90% of the time the condition is not even foot related.”

More people say they’re leaning toward the foot service at med spas over nail salons because medical pedicures are more keen on the details of the feet and nails. A medical pedicure’s process involves extensive cleaning, sanding, buffing, shaping of the nails and removing dead skin.

Correa encourages more people to keep up the appearance of their feet because sometimes it could be a warning sign of a more serious health condition such as heart disease or osteoporosis.

“Foot care is the most important part of your body,” she said. “If you take care of your mouth and you don’t take care of your feet, you’re not gonna smile with those teeth because your feet hurt.”

Finally, while Medi Pedi NYC is merely a medical spa, it often refers clients to podiatrists when the issues need special treatment.

Research contact: @nypost

Sepember 12, 2024

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in back in September 2016 that one in four Medicare participants age 65 or older—that’s 5 million people—do not take their blood pressure medicine as directed. In fact, 20% to 30% of prescriptions for chronic health conditions are never filled, and about half are not taken as prescribed, reports the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Patients’ failure to follow their medical treatment regimens is a common and costly problem with potentially dire consequences. A 2012 study by the American College of Preventive Medicine found that nonadherence accounted for an estimated 125,000 deaths annually and at least 10% of hospitalizations. The repercussions also cost the U.S. health system as much as $300 billion a year, according to a 2014 study by Johns Hopkins University researchers.

Depending on the patient, provider, and situation, contributing factors may include the patient’s social and economic status or education level, the complexity of the treatment and instructions, health system variables, poor provider communication, patient depression or stress, or physical or financial obstacles to drug access.

Patients may also stop taking a medication if they experience unpleasant side effects, are not seeing any immediate benefit from the therapy, or if they simply grow tired of taking pills.

medicine we have a blind spot,” said Victor Montori, M.D., an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic. “Being a patient—especially being a patient with a chronic condition—is a lot of work.” And there’s no curriculum about the work of being a patient, he noted.

Adherence rates haven’t changed significantly in the past three decades, despite efforts by the World Health Organization and the Institute of Medicine to address the problem, according to the American College of Preventive Medicine.

In addition to poorer patient outcomes, hospitals now also suffer the costs of readmission penalties for Medicare patients who return to the hospital because they haven’t followed a doctor’s instructions.

There’s no one-size-fits-all remedy for this problem: physicians and health systems can support adherence in a combination of ways.

At Mayo’s Knowledge and Evaluation Research Unit, Montori focuses on “minimally disruptive medicine” that is designed not to overburden patients. He said clinicians often are unaware of the cumulative effects of what they ask patients to do. Montori noted, for example, that patients may have to go through several bureaucratic steps and pharmacy trips to refill each maintenance prescription.

Montori suggests that healthcare systems focus treatment on the goals patients and clinicians agree to achieve, “and then make sure in the process that we don’t overwhelm [the patients].” In some cases, it’s virtually impossible for patients to do all that their providers ask, Montori says. “Are the treatments, tests, appointments, that we’re asking people to go through, are they really necessary?” he asked. “If we medicalize every moment of their lives, patients will struggle.”

In addition to being more judicious about how many appointments are necessary, the healthcare team can make it easier for patients by trying to bundle appointments or procedures on the same day, he suggests. Or clinicians can help mobilize social resources for patients who need help with housing, food, or addictions—factors that can affect their ability to maintain a treatment regimen, Montori said.

Prescribing more affordable generic drugs, simplifying dosages, synchronizing refills, and finding ways to reduce pharmacy trips may reduce the burden on patients as well, Montori adds. Or, if the patient has stopped taking a medication because of unpleasant side effects, the physician can work with the pharmacist to find an alternative.

At NYU School of Medicine, Adina Kalet, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and surgery and codirector of the Program on Medical Education Innovation and Research, is exploring the use of a Patient Empowerment Program to help patients become more active partners in their care. In a current study, she and colleagues are training patients with diabetes to better communicate with physicians during two two-hour sessions.

So far, said Kalet, “it does what we are hoping it [would do]…. It changes the dynamic in the doctor’s office. We’ve had nothing but positive responses from physicians about how much more satisfying it is to be able to engage as partners with patients.”

For Steven Feldman, MD, PhD, professor of Dermatology, Pathology, and Public Health Sciences at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, close follow-up and establishing trust with patients are the keys to patient adherence. Prescribing a drug and then following up in 8 weeks to 12 weeks is not enough to ensure compliance, he says.

“Doctors are the only people on the planet who have the idea that you can tell people, ‘Here, work on this every day and I’ll see you in two or three months.’”

Feldman has found that being a caring provider leads to better patient accountability. When prescribing a new treatment, for example, he writes his mobile phone number on a business card and tells his patient to call in three days to report on progress. “That adds to their trust in me, which adds to their trust in the medicine,” Feldman says.

Wake Forest has spun off a company based on Feldman’s adherence-improvement methods, asking patients to report their treatment status through online surveys. Using that approach, acne patients doubled their adherence to treatments.

Providers may do well to remember that the intangible can be invaluable. “It is the relationship between the doctor and patient that drives the compliance,” says Helen Shields, MD, associate chief of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Division of Medical Communications.

“I believe strongly that patients are more compliant if they trust you, believe you, and if they can understand what you’re saying.”

Research contact: @AAMCtoday