Poggio Anthony DPM

ATTN: DR POGGIO. You need to get rid of Debra, almost all of your bad reviews are because of her bad attitude to patents on the phone .
Dr. Poggio is one of the finest and most knowledgeable specialists I have found and I have been treated by the best of the best in the past 3 years while dealing with an on going open wound. This is not a bad review of Dr. Poggio, it’s directed at Debra in the front office who is rude and frightfully combative to patents who are desperately seeking help. To get this help you’ll have to be ready to deal with Debra who is the despicable piece of work that answers the phones and could care less about you or your wellbeing.

First I want to state that I, myself, have not seen the doctor here. I am speaking on behalf of my significant other. Also, I’ve never had the urge to write a Unilocal review until our experience today.
My s/​o had an appointment with the doctor because she was having issues during the day walking. From my understanding, she had no problem and a great experience at his office. It wasn’t until the doctor had referred her to Alameda Orthopedic Footcare Center that I got involved.
Earlier today she had an appointment with Peter from Alameda Orthopedic Footcare Center and I had accompanied her to it. (She specifically asked me to go because Peter had been rude to her on be phone when trying to schedule an appointment). So we had the appointment this morning and to make a long story short, it was startling. (Please, take a minute to read some reviews about Alameda Orthopedic Footcare center from Unilocal and you’ll get an understanding about our experience).
The reason why I’m writing this Unilocal review is not to defame the doctor but to make him and the public aware as to who he his sending his patients too. One would think that if a doctor is referring out his patients, that he’d want to make sure they were in good hands. This is simply not the case. At this point, it is unclear as to if we will be returning to this doctor as he has lost all credibility from our standpoint.

It is very hard to get an appt w/​Dr Poggio. Almost too hard.

I have no issue with Dr. Poggio himself, but the office atmosphere is old/​worn and the front office staff leaves a lot to be desired.

My experience with Dr. Poggio has been outstanding! I was referred to the office to treat persistent pain in one foot, and the treatment plan gave me relief from the first visit. Dr. Poggio’s expertise and personable manner made the visits a pleasure. Don’t hesitate to seek treatment here if you need it…

I go to Dr. Poggio’s office several times a year to have calluses removed from the bottom of my feet. Dr, Poggio is friendly, intelligent and good humored. I always enjoy my time talking with him and walk out pain free.
I would agree, though, with a couple of other reviews: the staff could be friendlier, and the office needs an update.

Didn’t See Dr Poggio — saw Dr Kwok who works in Dr P’s office.
Dr Kwok is great. Takes the time to figure out what to do, then does it.
Took Kaiser over 4 years to close a pressure ulcer on my left foot (I’m diabetic)
Took Dr Kwok 7 weeks to close the ulcer on my right foot. I am almost glad I lost my job and kaiser insurance. Dr Kwok is way better.
By the by — they do not have a fancy office. It is clean and efficient and you don’t pay for the snazzy office. Look to the professionalism of the physician, and you will be right at home.

SHORT:
Dr. Poggio is very professional, helpful, and friendly. I would give his office 5 stars except that his receptionist is not quite the above three adjectives.
LONG:
Not only does he take my concerns about my ankle pain seriously, but he makes all the podiatry-​knowledge accessible to me in layman’s terms — and even helps me laugh about it and bring it down to perspective.
I’ve visited his office 4 times now, over a course of 3 months, and though the ankle pain hasn’t completely gone away, he earnestly examined the problem, gave me advice for good shoes, and is helping me get used to my custom orthotic inserts. When I complained about an ill-​fitting pair of flip flops I had bought, he even offered to adjust them for me, for free! =D
Anyway, I’m glad to be a patient here — and hope to one day write about my full recovery.

Dr. Poggio’s office seriously needs some updating. I felt I could smell the mold when I stepped inside. I don’t even know if I’d trust his instruments being completely sanitized.
He had to take some nail clippings to test for nail fungus. When he said he would call in two days, he never mentioned that he would be out of the office by then. Since I was to leave town after those two days, I was anxious to find out if I should pick up medication for my nails before leaving. So I was unpleasantly surprised when the office told me he wouldn’t get my message until the following week.
Somehow, he did return my call, and told me they didn’t find anything — but it could be because what he got was too small of a sample. So basically it’s inconclusive. Well, Doctor, why would you go through all that with me when your experience should have told you that you needed more sample? I’m likely going to get a large bill for this lab test which basically tells me nothing. Thanks, Doc.

This is not a friendly email. Although the Dr. himself is awesome, his staff is not and for us, it’s enough to stop seeing him. Here’s the story.
My wife had foot surgery, everything went well until we got the bill and couldn’t pay it all up front. I went in and paid half and I thought I had made arrangements for the other half to get paid the next month. I say thought, because the person doing it, didn’t really do it, apparently she just pretended. So the next week the wife goes in for an appointment and the middle aged lady with no joy on her face immediately starts to go after her for the balance. My wife kindly said her husband had made arrangements, but the lady persisted, so my wife made her $ 40.00 co-​pay and gave an additional $ 50.00 to give them something. Now the office is full of people and joy free announces that that’s not the whole remainder. So my wife had to say sorry I don’t have the money right now, in a packed, small office. Strike one. So during that appointment, the Dr. says she needs a shoe insert right away and he would have the staff call and find out if our insurance covers it. Well two weeks go by and I have to call them, then the girl says she will get back to me. She calls back and says our insurance covers 100% and no co-​pay. So we go in for our casting appointment today and the woman with no joy (middle aged, round face and glasses) again asks for the balance, which I tell her we have arranged to pay on the 1^st. She then asks for a $ 40.00 co-​pay and a $ 200.00 cast deposit! Strike two. I kindly let her know that the girl who scheduled this said there was no co-​pay and insurance covered it 100%. She informed me that she didn’t know who scheduled us, but the office policy was a $ 200.00 deposit. Now we have a kid in college, another in High School. We don’t just have $ 200.00 without planning for it. So, left with no options, we slunk out of there humiliated like we were rejected beggars. By the time I got home I was pretty upset at our treatment so I called her back to let her know that we think their communication is really bad. Now this is the absolute truth, I did not cuss, did not yell and did not get personal, I simply stated how messed up what they did to us was and how it’s frustrating to go to the trouble of setting up stuff and have them pretend it wasn’t done. She says to me that they don’t put payment notes on accounts?
Then Joyless says to me that «she doesn’t get paid to get chewed out» and HUNG UP ON ME!!! So although Dr. Poggio is a great doc with a great sense of humor, this is more than we are willing to deal with and for sure we will never step foot in there again. Now we have to change horses mid race, but are going through with it because no one should have to endure that cold hearted attitude from a care professionals office staff. My wife is absolutely humiliated by all of this and as of right now is in a funk (rightfully so).
Tim R.

Having a foot problem? You MUST go see this man. He and his staff are very nice and he will fix your problem.

Now, back around Christmas, the toenail on my big right toe was giving me a bit of agony. But it diminished over the period of a few days, and I figured it was a passing thing.
Or so I thought.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I went to treat myself to a pedicure. The sharp stabbing pain in my right toenail returned with a vengeance as soon as the pedicurist dug in with her tools. I felt bad, because my instinctive reaction nearly caused me to kick her in the face.
I waited a few days and the pain did not subside. And since every day I’m either at the gym or running, I did not want to be grounded from my exercise for very long. I looked up local podiatrists and found Dr. Poggio here on Unilocal.I called and was fortunately able to get an appointment just a few days later (thanks to a cancelation – you may have to wait longer.)
I had no issues with the office staff, who promptly gave me the forms to fill out and brought me back to one of the examination rooms. From the time I walked in the front door to the time I actually saw Dr. Poggio, it was about 20 minutes – not too bad at all.
Dr. Poggio was very friendly and made me feel at ease. I have never had issues with my feet in the past so he made it very easy for me to voice the issue I was having with my toe. He took a look and it was determined that I had a stubborn in-​grown toenail. Dr. Poggio opted for the least intrusive method of sawing away a portion of the nail rather than removing the whole thing. He talked to me about casual things as he filed away to avert my attention from the pain (I have a high threshold of pain, and I will admit that it wasn’t painless!)
A short time later, my toe was bandaged and I was out the door. Dr. Poggio assured me that the pain should subside over the following few days, and if it did not, then to make an appointment to have the nail removed. Fortunately, his less intrusive method proved to be the best course of action, because I am back in the gym and running along the beach again with no pain. THANK YOU!!!
I highly recommend Dr. Poggio. If you are concerned about whether your insurance is accepted, feel free to call and ask the staff.

Dr. Poggio is my second podiatrist (see my other reviews for the last one) and he is far and away the better of the two. He was cautious at first, not wanting to be too aggressive which was fine with me. «The low tech approach» he called it. When that didn’t seem to work, he took it up a notch and so far, so good. I am not completely pain free yet (which is the only reason I don’t give 5 stars yet) but have had the first 48 hours of relief in the last 6 months. It has been heaven! Let’s hope I can come back in a few weeks and up this to a full-​out five star review!

I heartily recommend Dr. Poggio. His staff was very professional, and the location is close by the hospital, so it was easy to find. My time in the waiting room was minimal, and the good doctor provided a manufacturer’s coupon to offset the copay on my prescription. Nice guy!

I’m putting the finishing touches on an evening outfit, so I head to the closet and pull out my candy-​apple red, 4-​inch, patent leather peep-​toe stiletto pumps. Step into the left. Step into the right. Take a step — OUCH!
What? Take another step. *agony* Something is clearly wrong as I move to a different, shorter and not nearly as pretty pair of heels.
As the months go by, my shoe heel-​height diminishes again and again and I finally face reality — if I want to see my sexy red peep-​toes again, I’d better consult a professional.
I’m suspicious of podiatrists as a rule, as they all seem to want to separate me from my favorite form of self expression. Dr. Poggio is definitely not fan of high heels, but he’s also a realist who seems to understand I’m not giving up on my vast shoe wardrobe. He’s personable, and doesn’t seem interested in railroading patients into expensive treatments.
We’ll see how treatment goes, but I am hopeful that I will eventually be able to take my red shoes, and all their 3-​inch cousins, out for a walk again.

Dr. Poggio and his staff are excellent – he absolutely, quickly and painlessly fixed my foot that was hurting ALL THE TIME – great people, I totally recommend him. Lynn Phares