Cost of Laser for Nail Fungus

Cost and Policies for laser of nail fungus treatment:

 

Policy:

We perform the most lasers for nail fungus in NYC at the best price. We often get emails and phone calls asking us about our policies and costs for the laser treatment for nail fungus.

We have outlined the costs and policy below. Please read it prior to emailing or calling. If you still have questions please feel free to contact us with further questions.

We are ethical doctors and believe in doing the right thing for our patients. Prior to doing the laser we want to be sure that your problem truly is nail fungus. If it is not fungus, the laser will not work and you will have wasted your money.

The first thing we do is determine if you are a candidate for the laser treatment. Most of the time we can tell just by looking at the nails if it is fungus or not at your initial consultation. If we feel your nail problem is not fungus we will not offer you the laser and save you the money. Additionally, we will offer you other alternative treatment options for your nail problem.

If there is any question whether or not your problem is due to nail fungus we will perform a painless nail biopsy procedure. We will send a clipping of your nail to our laboratory. There, the pathologists will look under a microscope and let us know if they see fungal elements or not. The laser will not work if your problem is not caused by fungus!

If we determine that your problem is nail fungus on your initial consult we will then perform the Cutera laser procedure for your nails on the same day. If we do the biopsy we will not perform the laser on the same day as your initial consultation. You will have to wait for the biopsy results to come back from our lab. This usually takes one to two weeks.

Many people are disappointed when they cannot have the laser on their first visit be we feel strongly about being ethical and not taking your money if we don’t think the laser will work. Many other nail problem present and look like nail fungus (onychomycosis). These include some skin and nail disorders, trauma to the nail and nail bed separation (onycholysis). We are always ethical and honest and not driven by money to do as many laser procedures as possible like some other practices. We want our patients to be satisfied with our services. It harms the entire profession by doing laser procedures on people without fungus as the general consensus of the effectiveness is harmed. (Other physicians reading this please take note of that last sentence).

Once we determine you are candidate for the laser, we will start your procedure. We will take photographs of your nails to ensure we can keep track of the progress you are making. When indicated, we will then perform grinding to reduce the size of the nail to allow the laser to penetrate better and reduce the overall quantity of fungus present in the nail. This is usually painless due to our highly specialized grinder that shoots a combination of water and alcohol to cool the nail as we reduce it.

We will then perform the laser procedure in our office with the highly effective Cutera Genesis 1064nm laser. The procedure takes 20-40 minutes depending on how many nails are involved and how severe your nail fungus is. This procedure requires no anesthesia, no needles and no topical medications. For many the procedure is painless and most people report feeling some heat and occasional discomfort. If you feel pain let the doctor know and we can take measures to reduce the pain without sacrificing the effectiveness of the laser.

Some people travel long distances for Laser Nail Fungus Treatment:

Many people travel far from out of New York City for us to treat their nail fungus. For these people we change the policy slightly to avoid wasted trips to our office. For some of these people we skip the biopsy procedure and do the laser without fungal confirmation. We encourage people to have their biopsy done by their local podiatrist prior to coming to see us. The biopsy that we prefer is called a “PAS stain for fungal hyphae”. Most podiatrist will be able to do this test if you just ask. If you are pretty sure its fungus and want to skip the biopsy we will perform your laser. If your problem was not fungus there is no harm in doing the laser and it will not cause any additional problems, but it will not solver your nail disease. The only thing lost will be time and money…

Price for Laser Nail Fungus Treatment:

Our cost for three treatments is $900. We will require full payment at the time of your first treatment. Most doctors charge more than this for just one treatment. We find that performing three treatments significantly increase the likelihood of success over one treatment. (We like to think we offer the first treatment for a discount and give an additional two treatments free!) Some people will also require more than three treatments. We have patients follow up two months after the third laser to assess the success. If after three treatments the problem does not seem to be completely gone we will determine if we think additional treatments are necessary. We offer additional laser treatments at two month intervals for $250 each.

As described above some people will require a biopsy to determine if the problem is fungal or not. For these people we will charge for the initial consultation. If you have the laser on the first visit the $900 includes the consultation. When we do not do the laser on the first visit the consultation can be charged to your health insurance, assuming we take your insurance plan. We do take most plans. Feel free to inquire when you make your appointment if we take your plan.

If we do take your insurance plan, you will be responsible for just your copay and any deductible and/or coinsurance. If we do not take your plan or if you do not have health insurance, the charge for the initial consult is $200. This is discounted from our usual initial consult rate. This charge covers our time to make the diagnosis, do the biopsy and recommend alternative treatments if necessary when we feel you do not have fungus.

If we find your biopsy is positive and decide to go ahead with the laser, your $200 consultation will be applied toward the cost of the laser and you will be responsible for an additional $600 on the day of your laser, $900 total.

If we find the biopsy is negative, we will not perform the laser and not charge you anything additional. We will not refund your $200 consultation fee. This fee is kept for our time and expertise but be aware that we have saved you money for a procedure that would not have worked.

The laboratory and pathologist will also charge you or your insurance for the cost of the biopsy.

The laser procedure for nail fungus is not covered by any insurance.

You may, however, often user your flexible spending account or medical savings account to use pre-tax dollars to pay for the procedure. If you do want to use one of these accounts, we recommend that you check with your plan administrator prior to confirm that this procedure can be applied to the plan.

The $900 must be paid on the same day as the first laser procedure. There are no payment plans. We accept cash, check, debit cards and charge cards (Visa, MasterCard and American Express only).

Refund and cancellation policy:

If you cancel at any time in advance of your laser procedure or initial consultation you will not be charged for the visit or laser. We ask for a 24hr notice but do not charge for missed appointments and we do appreciate a phone call even if you must cancel last minute. We do not appreciate no-shows.

There are no guarantees as to the success of your laser. We advise everyone that a percent of people will fail the procedure. We do not promise a successful outcome and cure. In rare occasions, grinding of the nail may even make the nail worse. By consent to perform the laser you consent and acknowledge that the laser may not work and your nails may get worse.

If you do not perform the laser the $200 consultation fee is not refundable. If you decide to not complete the three treatments after starting the first, no portion of the $900 will be refunded for any reason. If we decide to do additional treatments after the first three at $250 each, those fees are not refundable either for any reason. (Unfortunately, just like any other medical treatment, this laser treatment will not work for everyone. We wish it did!).

Practice Philosophy:

We are a group of young ethical physicians with the ultimate goal to help our patients. We care about our patients and treat them like we would treat our own families. We care about the best possible outcome for our patients and treat them with their best interest in mind. We think altruistic treatment should come first and that will lead to eventual profit and being about to pay our bills for our beautiful 42nd Street office. Our practice philosophy is that by providing truly altruistic care for our patients we will have happy, satisfied customers who will refer other patients and tell their other doctors how good we are, and thus we will grow our exceptional practice. This philosophy has worked so far 13 years* for us, and allowed us to have a successful group podiatry practice in Manhattan. (* as of the time of our writing).

If you have any additional questions that were not answered here about pricing or policy, or any other inquires, please feel free to call or email our office at any time.

Sincerely,

Emanuel Sergi, DPM

Founder, Laser Toeail Fungus Treatment NYC