Zakee Shabazz, DPM

Dr. Shabazz is super knowledgeable, caring, and friendly.

I had surgery three years ago and when I had to reschedule my recent surgery I was thrilled to have Dr. Shabbazz operate on my right foot yet again. His staff is phenomenal. Very welcoming and friendly. He makes you feel right at home.

This doctor is amazing. Super friendly, knowledgeable, miracle-​worker.
I had been to two dermatologists (he’s married to one but she was not one of the ones I had met with) to try and treat a rash on my foot. Two years later it was still there. I went to Dr. Shabazz for a nail problem (my daughter repeatedly jumped on my big toe and damaged the nail bed) and I also asked about the rash. I helped me bring my toe nail back to normal and the cream he gave me made my rash go away and it’s hasn’t returned a year later.
I couldn’t be happier with my experience with Dr. Shabazz!

After my first appointment there I found Dr. Shabazz amazing. He spends time with his patients and talks to you about everything you want to know. As much as I like that he does this, he then gets to be about 30 – 45 mins behind all the time. I would make my appointments at 8:30 and not be seen until 9 – 9:15. With that being said I found out at my first appointment I had heel Spurs that grew into my Achilles. The only thing that could really fix this was surgery. I have never had surgery and was very worried about how this was going to affect me. Dr. Shabazz sat there with me and went over every question I had and reassured me everything would be fine. I ended up having the surgery. After 6 months I was still having problems with my foot and it wasn’t healing or getting its strength back. The outside of my foot was very sensitive which we thought could be a knotted nerve. Dr. Shabazz said that I needed another surgery to either loosen up anchors that were placed the first time and clean up the scar tissue. I trusted him and had a second surgery. Then after the second surgery my incision wouldn’t heal and I had an open wound for about 3 months. After my wound finally healed I was having the same problems as I did after the first surgery. This time I had even more nerve pain and a lot of scar tissue built up and formed a bump on the back of my heel. What did Dr. Shabazz say would fix this problem now? Oh a third surgery… at this point I just didn’t trust what was going on nor did I trust that he knew what the problem was. I ended up leaving and getting a second opinion, which that Doctor said what was done on my first two surgeries was completely wrong and he didn’t even want to touch my foot and sent me to a specialist. After going to the specialist we took a year to let my Achilles build up some strength but we did have to go in for a third surgery. That doctor told me my Achilles was so damaged that we had to take tendon and implant it onto my Achilles, that my nerve was so tangled up and in my scar tissue he had to release the nerve. This was all caused by two surgeries that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. If you have heel Spurs that are growing in or anywhere near your Achilles I would not recommend Dr. Shabazz.

*****. I will not wish, I will go ahead and add 5 more stars because Dr. S more than deserves it. He has to be one of the most competent doctors it has been my fortune to know. Warning: this is a long one.
After close to 2 years of interrelated and complicated issues with my right foot, culminating in a spastic large toe that Kaiser Permanente doctors could, 1) not figure out and 2) allowed to become so painful I resorted to injecting myself with a nerve relaxant used in Parkinson’s patients, open season came around so I changed insurances and found Dr. S!
I will not dwell on what others have made very clear here other than to second (or tenth) that Dr. S. is extremely patient; caring and careful; and always with a ready and genuine smile. All extremely important attributes in a doctor.
What I do want to highlight though, is Dr. S’s extraordinary competence.
As a sprinter, a dancer, a group exercise teacher, and just overall sport enthusiast, my feet and lower extremities are exceedingly important to me. I trusted Dr. S to operate on both my feet and all of my toes for one reason: his level of competence in and in-​depth knowledge of his craft. And this does not only apply to things directly related to his specialty, but to tangential related subjects as well.
In less than 45 minutes with a brief history and one press on the bottom of my foot, he was able to tell me 1) why I was experiencing the acute pain that brought me in, 2) what had caused the toe spasms that eluded Kaiser doctors for over a year, 3) how we needed to address the structural deformities to keep me active and pain-​free, and 4) devised a post-​surgical plan with me that facilitated my activity goals. All while keeping my out-​of-​pocket financial cost in mind. As another poster mentioned, this lack of financial motive is truly a rare find in a surgeon. Dr. S. is purely motivated by providing exceptional care to his patients.
I can not say enough about Dr. S as a practitioner! I will update with photos of my journey.

I had a torn tendons in my ankle which really messed up the rest of my foot. Dr Shabazz performed reconstructive surgery and it’s turning out great. The Dr not only has great skills, he treats patients with a relaxed, kind manner. His staff is great too.

Dr. Shabazz is great!
However I had a really bad experience getting my orthodics. I bought my first set and they worked out okay (2 thumbs up for $ 250), but I ordered my second pair for dress shoes over 4 months ago and dropped them off for an adjustment, over 9 weeks ago. I called 5 times, to find out when they were coming back but nobody called me… I emailed 3 times and no one emailed me back… finally, I got his assistant on the phone and she said they would be ready next week, a week goes by, nothing, then I call again, speak to a different person, she says they would be ready next week… I keep waiting and waiting…
I could have gone to a new doctor and orderd new orthodics and had them by now… I offered to pay for a rush or express overnight delivery… I don’t care how much it cost, I am willing to pay extra to get these back this week, but they don’t care.
I am being told that they are backed up with orders, and it will take another week…
I am about to throw in the towel, ask for a refund and go to new doctor.

Would like to write a short update.
I have had my surgery since than. Everything went very well. I am still in a cast for another week or so. Very happy and cant wait to be able to walk/​run again!
Dr. Shabazz was very patient with me before the surgery, told me and my husband step-​by step what he was going to do. After the surgery he checked on me.
He cares a lot about his patients. Love it, that he always have a smile for me…

I always think reviews on Amazon comparing similar products of different brands by the same reviewer as the best reviews. The problem to write such reviews is that most people don’t buy two similar products.
I was in an unfortunate situation of having a toe fracture to the same toe in two consecutive years, and thus comparing two different podiatrists. The first time I had the fracture, I went to a Family Physician and a podiatrist and finally had a corrective procedure done by another famous podiatrist for malunion. While the last podiatrist seemed to be caring enough instead of rushing you through the appointment, he made me visit him more often than was needed. When I had the fracture to the same toe again for the second toe last year, I feel that the podiatrist who did my toe surgery made it worse by saying your fracture is fine now, you can walk normally. He also scared the hell out of me by saying you have some fluid there, we need an MRI to confirm, and if that is the case we need to cut your toe open. I was horrified at the thought of yet another surgery again.
So I went to Dr. Shabbaz for a second opinion. He is a very patient person, he never rushed me through any of my appointments. He listened to all my concerns and answered to them very patiently. When I asked him about the fluid, he said that’s very normal during fractures and is not something to worry about. My toe was healing very slowly and I had a concern that it could be a non-​union. Dr. Shabbaz suggested the usage of an Ultrasound equipment to heal non-​union rather than proposing an invasive surgery unlike my first podiatrist. That makes this doctor stand out from the rest. A surgery with many follow-​ups would have been lucrative to him, but he did the right thing by suggesting an equipment I can use at home. In other words, he put service above self. I used the ultrasound equipment, I don’t know if I can attribute my recovery to that, but I didn’t need another surgery! It has been almost an year since my fracture. I feel thankful to my doctor for not performing an unnecessary surgery and complicating my life.

I went to him for a second opinion concerning a bunion and whether to do surgery or not. He was very pleasant and explained all my options, and if I did do the surgery route, what to expect in term of heal time and complications. It seems he has performed many successful bunionectomies (mine is a bunionette), but also said each case is different. He works with Fair Oaks hospital which is great. It’s on my driver’s foot so he said I wouldn’t be driving for a week — no big deal! A previous doctor, and extensive internet searching said at least a month! I’m certain I will be going with him to perform the surgery.

Dr. Shabazz performed a joint fusion surgery on my foot and could not be happier with the results. I now walk, run, play tennis, and golf with NO pain. I found Dr. Shabazz to be professional, yet personable. I would recommend him to anybody.

I saw Dr. Shabazz for the first time for arthritis and fungus. He did an excellent assessment; made the x-​ray available on CD took take to my rheumatologist. The meds are working. Will be seeing him on regualr basis.