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Podiatrist
HealthcareYou're a foot doctor, which means you chose to specialize in the body part nobody wants to look at, let alone touch. You'll treat everything from bunions and ingrown toenails to diabetic foot ulcers and sports injuries. Your patients range from runners who refuse to stop running to diabetics who refuse to wear proper shoes. The smell is exactly what you're imagining.
Salary Range
Low
$85k
Median
$145k
High
$220k
10-Year Growth
average
US Workers
12K
Education
Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) — 4 years + 3-year surgical residency + board certification
Environment
indoor
Tools & Technical Skills
- ▸Foot and ankle surgical techniques
- ▸Biomechanical assessment and gait analysis
- ▸Diabetic foot care and wound management
- ▸Custom orthotic design and fitting
- ▸Diagnostic imaging interpretation (X-ray, MRI)
- ▸Ingrown toenail procedures (matrixectomy)
- ▸Sports medicine for lower extremity injuries
People & Mindset Skills
- ▸Manual dexterity
- ▸Patient education
- ▸Empathy
- ▸Professional composure
- ▸Business management (private practice)
What you'll actually do
- 01Examine feet that have been neglected for decades and maintain a completely neutral facial expression
- 02Perform surgeries on bunions, hammertoes, and heel spurs — the glamorous side of foot medicine
- 03Trim diabetic patients' toenails because for them, a bad pedicure can lead to an amputation
- 04Fit custom orthotics and explain that no, Dr. Scholl's inserts from Walgreens are not the same thing
- 05Treat ingrown toenails with a local anesthetic and steady hands while patients grip the chair in terror
- 06Convince athletes to actually rest their stress fractures instead of 'just running through it'
Related Shifts
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