NEW BUNION SURGICAL TECHNOLOGY
Douglas Livingston, DPM, FACFAS
Do you suffer from a painful bunion? Now new technologically advanced surgical procedures are available that will allow you to walk immediately after the surgery, with minimal down time, no crutches, no cast and early return to work.
A bunion is a poorly aligned big toe joint. The big toe may point toward the second toe causing a bump on the outside edge of the foot where the big toe meets the metatarsal bone. This poorly aligned joint will lead to many complications including inflammatory or degenerative forms of arthritis which can cause the protective cartilage that covers your big toe joint to deteriorate as the condition worsens. This is why it is so important to treat your bunion deformity.
Bunions are often caused by an inherited foot type, foot injuries, and certain deformities such as pronation, which is when a person bears most of his or her weight on the inside of the foot. The deformity can be exacerbated by high heels or ill-fitting shoes. This may lead to swelling, redness, or soreness around the big toe joint, thickening of the skin at the base of the big toe, corns or calluses, pain, and restricted movement of the big toe. By pushing the big toe inward, a bunion can squeeze your other toes into abnormal positions. Over time, this crowding can lead to contractures of the other toes and hammertoes deformities.
A bunion may be treated conservatively with such modalities as utilizing wider shoes with a higher toe box, paddings, strappings, ice, anti-inflamatory medications, custom molded foot orthotics, and injection therapy which can help alleviate the symptoms associated with a bunion, but not the bunion deformity itself. If these conservative modalities fail to resolve the symptoms then surgical management is an option and the new technology available today can correct this condition with minimal down time and early return to work.
Livingston Foot Care Specialists’ website is www.livingstonfootcare.com.