When Stephen Salanon was moving some things around (including a refrigerator) he got a scratch on his foot…and over a couple of weeks it grew bigger and bigger. Had he been bitten by a Brown Recluse? He says, “First I went to a dermatologist. They ran tests and recommended I go to a wound center. At the wound center, they said I needed to have someone treat the veins. The first name they gave me was of a physician who did not have a vascular specialty. When I called his office and read online reviews there were so many red flags that I demanded a different referral. When I saw the name of Local Vascular Surgeon, Ulises Baltazar MD, RVT, FACS, I recognized it from the great work he’d done on my veins five years ago!”

“When I went in, the wound looked like a crater on one side of my right foot near the back of my ankle near my heel. My wife, Paulette, has been a real trooper. She would get up with me to dress my wound, before I left for my engineering job.  If I took a shower, I had to wear a rubber boot, so the wound wouldn’t get wet. Then she’d clean and re-dress it again. I was in constant pain. In fact, when Dr. Baltazar asked me to evaluate my pain levels using a chart, I told him that I didn’t know how to score it…a range of one to ten didn’t touch the constant agony I felt.”

“Dr. Baltazar started by ablating one of the calf veins…and compared to my daily pain that was a piece of cake! When it didn’t have the result he wanted, he grew very concerned. I have a blood condition and Dr. Baltazar suspected that the medication I take for it affected my ability to heal. He did a great deal of research before proceeding. The wound was so deep it was a very serious situation. First he applied eight synthetic skin grafts to build up the tissue. Then he took a skin graft off my leg and used a roller to create paste and applied that to the wound. In three to four weeks, the live graft should take effect. The fact  that the procedure was office based was really new and innovative…and he had a consultant from the skin graft company present throughout.”

“Dr. Baltazar went above and beyond to find an answer to my problem…and he’s also one of the most caring, personable doctors I’ve ever known. Twice before doing a procedure, he began by praying over my leg. He always let me and Paulette know what he was doing, why he was doing it, what it might feel like, and what the desired outcome would be. We have been very impressed with Dr. Baltazar’s level of specialization and the expertise he brings to each patient. We truly believe that when it comes to veins, there’s nothing he can’t do!”

“I know I could call Dr. Baltazar anytime for help…he even came in on a Saturday when my pain was too great. Paulette and I had scheduled a vacation months before all this happened, and Dr. Baltazar said, ‘Go, relax, have a good time…and call me if you need me.’ He even called us once just to make sure everything was okay. You feel like he’s always thinking about your health and is always happy to hear from you. I know Dr. Baltazar won’t be satisfied until my foot is at one hundred percent…and it’s thanks to him that I’m already well on the road to recovery!”

Ulises Baltazar MD, RVT, FACS – now affiliated with the renowned Methodist Cardiovascular Surgery Associates
281-240-8400
16605 Southwest Freeway Ste 505 (in the Methodist Professional Building 3)