The LMD Podiatry Podcast
Board certified in Podiatric Medicine and Surgery, Dr. Dabakaroff completed her training in Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Dr. Dabakaroff has been published in textbooks and has done research for various foot conditions. Dr. Dabakaroff brings with her new methods, both surgical and non-surgical, for treating multiple foot and ankle ailments.
Dr. Dabakaroff launched a podcast to educate and keep her community informed about various aspects of podiatry. Her goal is to offer a valuable resource to people while establishing new connections both within and outside her community.
To learn more, visit: LMDpodiatry.com or contact (954) 680-7133
The LMD Podiatry Podcast
EP #14: Fat Pad Restoration: A Deep Dive into Cutting-Edge Techniques
Unlock the secrets to pain-free feet with Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff and co-host Jeremy Wolf as they dissect the groundbreaking advancements in fat pad rejuvenation on the LMD Podiatry Podcast. Ever wondered why the natural cushioning in your feet thins out with age or trauma? Get ready to uncover the reasons behind fat pad atrophy and how it affects foot comfort and functionality. We'll highlight how the revolutionary Leneva, a unique blend of fat and stem cells, stimulates your body's natural fat regeneration over a three-month period, offering lasting relief and enhanced foot performance. If you've experienced discomfort in the balls of your feet or heels, this episode is a must-listen, revealing who stands to benefit most from these innovative treatments.
Join us as Dr. Dabakaroff shares her journey from using temporary fixes like Juvederm to adopting more advanced solutions that promise long-term results. We'll compare the efficacy of straight stem cell injections, such as Restore Gel, against the potent combination of stem cells and fat found in Leneva, and discuss their specific advantages for both older adults and athletes. From standard dosages to broader applications beyond foot pain, such as other types of tissue augmentation, this episode offers a comprehensive view of cutting-edge treatments that could revolutionize the way we approach chronic foot discomfort. Tune in for an enlightening conversation that could change the way you think about foot health and pain management.
To learn more, visit: LMDpodiatry.com or contact (954) 680-7133
Welcome to the LMD Podiatry Podcast. Trust us to get back on your feet. Here's your host, Dr Lauren DeBakeroff.
Jeremy Wolf:Hello, hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the LMD Podiatry Podcast. I'm your co-host, Jeremy Wolf, joined by, of course, your host, Dr Lauren DeBakeroff. Hey, everybody, Good to see you again. Good to see everyone back.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :Yes.
Jeremy Wolf:So you told me before we started this today, you wanted to talk a little bit about fat pad rejuvenation.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :Yes.
Jeremy Wolf:And I'd never heard that before. So I'm excited and interested to get into this topic. Why don't you kick off by talking a little bit about what fat pad rejuvenation is, I guess specifically for feet, because you're a podiatrist and it kind of how it helps alleviate foot pain, and then we'll go from there.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :So there's a whole new science behind fat. So some people call it fat pad rejuvenation, some people call it fat pad augmentation. But basically the bottoms of our feet they have the soles of our feet, they have different. We have fat pads on the tips of our toes, like on the balls of our foot and on the heel, and basically we're born with those fat pads to give us shock absorption when we walk, to get a bounce back. Unfortunately, as we age, um, the collagen that holds all the fat together it's tends to become less elastic, tends to spread out. And then what happens to our nice cushiony fat pads? They start flattening out and moving around and then a lot of patients, a lot of people have pain in different, you know, areas and joints, or toes or heels and things like that.
Jeremy Wolf:Aside from age deterioration, are there any other factors that cause the deterioration in the fat pads?
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :It's really. I mean, I have I have seen younger people without fat in their foot, but that's usually from traumatic injuries and things like that, like if they were in a car accident and then half of their foot was peeled off, like you know. But in like a regular, normal, healthy person around the age of like 60, 65, healthy person around the age of like 60, 65, that's when the fat pad starts dissipating. But there are cases, like in younger people, when, like, if you don't have a straight foot and you have a pressure point in your foot, that would also contribute to pain and the fat pad moving around and creating pressure and pain in that area.
Jeremy Wolf:Who are the ideal candidates for this type of treatment? In your experience Like when you get somebody that comes in the office and you're looking at issues with the foot, like what are some common symptoms or struggles that people are having that would even lead you to pursue this type of therapy for them- so the most common thing I see is patients with metatarsalgia, metatarsalgia, metatarsalgia, so the long bones of your foot.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :Okay, the long bones of your foot. I think I have a foot picture here, the no wrong one, the long bones of the foot.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :You know a lot of pressure gets put on the ball of a patient's foot and a lot of times because of you know, if you're a runner or, um, if you're not wearing the right shoes and you pound your foot a lot of times that that fat pad kind of moves because you're just it's just a regular wear and tear of the area and then what happens is that fat it just doesn't stay put anymore and it moves. And then all of a sudden people feel like they're walking on the joints or the balls of their foot and you could actually feel like I touch, I can touch their joint on their foot and you could feel the joint and you don't feel any fat anymore. So really those areas they have the fat pad atrophy and then they get the pain.
Jeremy Wolf:Makes sense. What the walk me through? What is this procedure look like? Right, how is this performed? Like I I'm in my mind, I'm thinking like what are you doing? Are you going in there with a needle injecting?
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :something, or you look like so. So I use a product called Leneva. I actually have like a really cool sheet that's blurring out here. We're getting a little blur over there. I gotta get rid of the background. Let's see. Let me see here. None Okay.
Jeremy Wolf:Yeah, throw that up there again. Let me see if I can see it. I don't know if the camera. Okay, there you go.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :That's a little bit clearer for all the people watching on YouTube. So this is Leneva and basically I like this side, but basically it's an injection. So it's the fat injection that I inject to the area that has fat loss and it shows here over time how it goes from no fat in the area and then it increases the fat cells in the area and this is 12 weeks.
Jeremy Wolf:It takes about three months for everything to regenerate. Three months of treatments, somebody, one injection, it's one injection okay, injection to the problem area.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :And what happens is the body uses all the it's mixed. It's basically fat mixed with stem cells. That's what I like to call it. It's a fat mixed with stem cells and what that does? It causes adipogenesis, which is basically it makes your body form more fat in the area, and it takes about six weeks sorry, 12 weeks to happen. Usually the first two weeks the patients need to, you know, keep off of that foot a little bit. You know I usually put them in a boot or put like a pad in, like the specific area that that I injected to offload it. But basically it rejuvenates the fat pad in the sense that it makes your body create more fat only in that area. So Laneva is probably the most amazing product I've seen. I used to use other things for fat pad, you know augmentation, like Juvederm and things like that, all these different products out of the market, but I found that they don't last Patients that get this done it's like one and done Like they get it and they almost never come back again.
Jeremy Wolf:That was going to be the next question. What have you seen with patients? They can literally come in and get one injection and it basically produces more of the more of of this the fat in the fat pad area and it teaches the body. It basically teaches the body to continue that so they don't have to come back and do this over and over again, because I think a lot of people are concerned that if they do something like this once, they're going to have to come see you every month or every six months to kind of re-up on it that's not the case.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :That's the thing you know, as, as physicians, we, you know, we research and we advance, and every year something new comes out. So, like me, I used to use juvederm for people that used to have a lot of pain on the balls of their foot or like the tip of their toe or something that was like driving them crazy and they didn't want to wear softer shoes, you know. So I used to give them that injection and it would last them for like eight months, but then you know, the body would get rid of it. Okay, what this this is really in? Like I've switched for the past probably a couple months to this product just because I've had amazing results, and then basically, what it does is it makes your body form more fat in the area that's missing fat, and the fat doesn't go anywhere. It stays in the fat, it just stays, and my patients are really happy. They have no pain.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :I have been doing it a lot in the elderly population, those people who, just like you know, they want to go to the gym with their friends and silver sneakers and all that kind of stuff, and they just have that one spot that hurts, and then I fill up that spot with the fat and that's it as far as the procedure goes, it's. It is invasive in a sense that it's an injection, but I make it nice. I prep the area, I numb up all the nerves that lead to the area I'm injecting.
Jeremy Wolf:Okay, so no pain then. Yeah, and then yeah.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :So once I do a local block, local injection, once the whole area is numb, I go straight into the fat pad of concern and I just fan the uh Geneva, or you know the fat pad, uh Geneva, or you know the fat pad. The fat um the juice. I like to call it the juice, the juice is loose.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :It's really cool. It's like a syringe of fat and stem cells. So I inject it, uh, I fan it in to all the planes of that fat pad and it just sits in there and does the work and within 12 weeks the magic happens. So it works. I like it. A lot of people have this pain. It's also, you know, meant for people who just destroy their feet doing sports and they don't you know if orthotics aren't cutting it, if the shoes aren't cutting it, if they just have that one spot. You know, a lot of times people have a limb length discrepancy, like one leg is longer than the other and they have just one joint that's sticking out because that leg is longer or shorter. And instead of changing their shoes and making all these orthotics and they're sick of it they will come and get that fat pad injection just to alleviate the pain, so they don't have to always come and do all this other stuff. Pretty much, it's interesting.
Jeremy Wolf:I had a thought. I've heard, obviously, of stem cell injections, but I've never heard of mixing the stem cells with other types of cells. Is that something common in other treatments as well, or do they do straight stem cell injection, like what's the difference between? I'd imagine that doing the stem cells with the fat cells it's going to take better to the area because it's a fatty area, but there's also scenarios where you just inject straight stem cells into an area, like what's the difference between those two things?
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :So I do. I actually use another product called Restore Gel, and that is a straight stem cell. It's it's stem cell. It's stem cells harvested from the umbilical cord of the baby. They're safe, it's donated, it's great, it's legal, wonderful.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :But what the stem cell does, what those things do, is it's I like to it's regenerative medicine. So instead of so, what it does does it regenerates the area. So if, let's say, a patient has a sprain or a chronic tendonitis right, or you have here, they have a lot of scar tissue in some area of their foot or their ankle or like, so what the stem cell does is it regenerates the tissue. It forces the area to kind of rebuild itself, not kind of it rebuilds itself. I've actually used it for an Achilles tendon tear a couple of times and I actually have saved patients from surgery.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :And what it does is it stimulates the healing in the area so that the area can heal. So it's regenerating tissue. Does that make sense? It does so. Now, laneva, it takes that same science and then it mixes it with fat and then whatever they all these components that they mix with that fake fat or not fake, it's donated, I don't know where they get it from, but it is harvested. They harvest it from somewhere and it's safe and it's like a legit company and I really, really like them. So I mean they get it from somewhere and then all these special factors that they mix it together with it, it creates that regeneration of the tissue.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :So, if I inject it into an ankle sprain so it's going to regenerate the ligament. If I have, like my stem cell injection, a patient has an ankle sprain or like a regenerate the ligament. If I, if I have, like my stem cell injection, I patient has an ankle sprain or like a tear of their ligament, I inject it there so it makes your body regenerate that ligament or that tendon. Okay, where Leneva comes in for the fat pad augmentations, it already it's already, it's already pre-mixed with fat cells and the stem cells and I put it locally to the problem area and it its job is to regenerate or augment the fat in that area.
Jeremy Wolf:How do you determine the appropriate amount of actual injection to put Cause, I gotta imagine like if you're, if your fat pad is worn down completely, you're going to, you're going to put more in there, like, how is it a standard amount across the board?
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :The standard amount is one and a half CCS, which is like half a syringe. Okay, they so that company uses it for other things that they need more for, like I think you heard that guy speak. He was saying you know, for you know, breast augmentation, to give them a lift, for those procedures they need a lot more. Yeah, for people that are like fixing things in their face or like in their breasts, um, for the foot, you really don't need more than a cc and a half um, it's about this much, and because your foot's small, you don't need that much. And then the fat pad like I would say like if the heel pad, the regular heel pad, is probably six centimeters in diameter, you know, so you really don't need much. And it's not pain, it's a, it's a painless procedure, there's no pain after you know it's not pain, it's a, it's a painless procedure, there's no pain after you know, it's just, it sits in your foot and it does the magic.
Jeremy Wolf:Are there any tips you can give to anyone out there? I mean, is this something that you should even be concerned about? It sounds to me like if you had this condition over time you're becoming elderly. It's pretty simple to just come see you and have the injection, but is there any like tips you can give, generally speaking, to prevent these issues from happening in the first place, in terms of, like common footwear or whatever it is?
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :So the number one thing is footwear.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :If you wear supportive footwear, especially in the elderly, the ones that they're the ones that lose the fat pad first, right. So the only thing that helps with their pain before they come to me for this type of injection is wearing soft insoles. So they wear like the soft insoles in their shoes, the silicone insoles, like soft foam and padding. That helps prevent pain. But if they were younger, before that would happen, I would have told them to wear really good shoes and orthotics.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :And it's very important to take care of your feet. A lot of people neglect their feet. It's you know, there are like products and massages and things like that that they encourage collagen production in your foot. So that's also very important for prevention. So, like if you're female or male or whatever, you really should get like a foot massage once in a while. You should soak your feet in Epsom salt soaks, you know, when you have a chance, and really just taking care of your feet, wearing the right shoes and letting your feet rest, it's probably the best thing you can do to prevent fat pad loss from happening.
Jeremy Wolf:All right. Anything else you want to touch upon for rep, rewrap this one up.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :Um, not really I have just. All I want to say is you know, there's some I love science and there are awesome products out there and I get really excited, you know, when I find a great product that can help my patients. Surgery, you know, no surgery. So this is. You know, some of these things are pretty cool and and I can't wait to help anyone with any of these issues if they need me.
Jeremy Wolf:You hear that everyone out there, if you're suffering from any kind of foot pain or heck, even if you're not suffering from foot pain but you haven't gotten checked out in a while, reach out to Dr Dabakaroff. She's doing great work, just fantastic stuff. That's all. I'm speechless. What can I say? You speak first. Never.
Dr. Lauren Dabakaroff :No, no, no, no, All right Well everyone.
Jeremy Wolf:Thank you so much for tuning in and we will catch everyone next time on the next episode, the LMD podiatry podcast. Everyone, take care and have a wonderful day.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the LMD podiatry podcast. For more information, visit LMDPodiatrycom. That's LMDPodiatrycom, or call 954-680-7133.