The Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Center family is excited to welcome a new face into our home. Jennifer Swan, DPM will begin seeing patients this Friday, September 16, 2011.

Dr. Swan was born and raised in Springfield Ohio. She obtained her Doctor of Podiatric Medicine from Des Moines University and completed her residency training at Yale/VA Healthcare system in New Haven, CT.  She comes to OFAC after being at a busy, multi-site practice in Dayton, Ohio for 3 years.

In her free time, Dr. Swan loves to travel and workout; which fits into our OFAC family very well. She enjoys running, cycling, swimming, golf, tennis and recently has purchased a kayak. She is always up for a new challenge. Her family and friends are also a big part of her life.

Dr. Swan is passionate about patient care, education and is extremely excited to join OFAC.  She will play an integral role in our family so that we can improve our patient care and service by offering:

-SAME DAY patient appointments

-Availability to see patients in the office 5 days a week

-Expanded wound care & laser therapy services

-Forefoot surgical expertise

-General podiatric care

We know you will love her as much as we do! Please join us in welcoming Dr. Swan to the Westerville Medical Campus and the OFAC family.

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Swan please call 614-895-8747 or visit our website at  www.orthofootankle.com.

We are happy to welcome Christopher George, DPM to the OFAC Family. Dr. George is a talented podiatrist and is Board Certified in Wound Care by the American Professional Wound Care Association as well as a Certified Wound Specialist by the American Academy of Wound Management.

Dr. George graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in Pre-Med/Nutrition and received his Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree from the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine. He completed his primary podiatric care residency at the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine and then finished an extensive podiatric medicine and surgical residency at the V.A. hospitals in Chillicothe and Columbus, Ohio.

Dr. George was born and raised in Mansfield, Ohio and is very involved with his church.  In his free time he enjoys traveling, hiking, white water rafting, and Greek folk dancing. He also enjoys participating in community service projects such as feed the needy lunches and the planning committee for the Greek Festival at Saint Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church.  Dr. George also has provided house-call podiatric medical services to patients who are homebound and has lectured at MedCentral Hospital on diabetic foot care.

Dr. George comes to OFAC from private practices in Upper Arlington and Mansfield, Ohio. His experience and quality patient care will be an asset for the OFAC team.

Skin grafts are a critical part of care for patients suffering from acute wounds, chronic wounds or burns. Currently, a split thickness skin graft is the gold standard for coverage when treating these conditions. However, donor site morbidity or a lack of donor skin due to the size of the wounds needing covered create situations where split thickness skin grafts (or allografts and xenografts) may not be feasible.

At the Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Center, I had the opportunity to be the first in Ohio to use a “Minced” skin autograft for the coverage of chronic wounds. This exciting technique has several advantages over a split thickness skin graft in certain situations. Split thickness skin grafts are usually expanded no more than six times with a maximum of nine times. With a minced skin technique, we’re able to expand the skin autograft up to 100 times, enabling us to effectively to cover much larger wound areas with less donor skin.

THE FOLLOWING PHOTOGRAPHS GIVE YOU A GLIMPSE INTO THE MINCED SKIN AUTOGRAFT TECHNIQUE.

A single-use disposable kit with dermatome and mincer.

The wound bed is prepared in the typical fashion to receive the graft.

The graft is taken with the non-powered dermatome.

The donor site after the graft is taken.

The autograft skin placed on the back table.

The autograft skin is then minced into pieces 0.8mm X 0.8mm.

The minced skin ready to be grafted.

The graft is then inserted into the wound and covered with a non-adherent dressing.

Using this new technique, we’re now able to cover acute and chronic wounds as well as burns while using minimal donor tissue.  We’ll be following this patient and carefully watching his progress. I encourage you to check back often to see the benefits of this technique in treating chronic wounds.

I’ve always wanted to be on the forefront of medical technology and perform the latest procedures – that’s what inspired me to be a surgeon. At OFAC, that’s exactly what I’m able to do every day. I’m glad I can help more patients with the minced skin autograft technique, and I look forward to even more advancements.

Will DeCarbo, DPM, AACFAS – Fellowship Trained Foot & Ankle Surgeon