Bunions (hallux valgus) are large bumps hiding at the side of the toe. They result from misalignment of of the big toe’s bones. More common among women than men, this foot problem is often remedied by reducing the pressure on the big toes on which the bunion is located. However, if such simple solutions fail, your doctor may recommend bunion surgery.
Are You a Candidate for Surgery?
In the larger percentage of cases, your bunions will not require surgery. Preventive care measures together with the wearing of proper footwear can alleviate the problem. However, depending on the severity of the problem, you may require surgery. You will become a candidate if the following apply:
* Foot pain: this is significant enough to interfere with your lifestyle, particularly such things as walking and bicycling – even when you have proper footwear on.
* Chronic inflammation: when medications and rest do not reduce inflammation and swelling of your big toe
* Toe deformity: when the big toe on your foot continues to drift towards the other toes in a manner that clearly indicates they are going to cross over.
* Stiffness: when you cannot straighten or bend your big toe.
* Constant pain: even when you change your footwear, your feet still ache. The same applies to any use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). In other words, you may use ibuprofen and naproxen, but the pain persists
These all make you a likely candidate for bunion surgery.
Options for Bunion Surgery
When it comes to surgery, several methods are available to address the problem. Your doctor will consider such things as the size and shape of the bunion. Your bunion is not, after all, a carbon copy of that of a friend’s or neighbor’s. Your surgeon may recommend any of the following techniques:
* Exostectomy or Bunionectomy: removing the part of your foot with the bunion – the part that is bulging outwards.
* Realignment: this is of the ligaments situated around the big toe joint.
* Osteotomy: the surgeon makes small cuts in the bones then moves them back into the proper position.
* Resection Arthroplasty: removing some from where the metatarsal bone joins with the base of the big toe then reshaping both the big toe and metatarsal bones
* Arthrodesis: fusing the joint of the big toe.
* Lapidus procedure: Fusing the joint at the point where the metatarsal bone connects the mid-foot.
* Implant insertion: total or partial implant of an artificial joint.
Your surgeon will discuss the various options with you and will clarify whether you are a good candidate. Your doctor can then prepare you for all that is involved when you make the decision to have bunion surgery and, helping you perhaps, to at last escape the constant pain.
For more than 25 years, Suburban Orthopaedics has provided dedicated service to its clients. They have specialists that handle every aspect relating to the musculoskeletal system, including foot doctors who handle everything from ingrown toenails to bunion surgery. With excellent customer service and a highly skilled medical staff, you can rest assured they are there to provide you with quality care. To discover more about the practice and its services, contact them online at www.suburbanortho.com. You can also connect with them on Facebook for more updates!
