Nicholas Campitelli, DPM | Akron Podiatrist | Foot and Ankle Surgeon

The Foot Doc Blog – Leading Blog on foot and ankle pain

Providing information on foot, toes, and ankle pain or deformities. Questions? Please ask them in the comments section below. Check out our Youtube and Instagram sites as well.
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Do all bunions require surgery?  Not really. The point that I make to all of my patients is to consider fixing it when it’s painful.   I do stress, however, that bunions are STRUCTURAL, deformities and will not improve without surgery.  Toe spacers, bunion splints, and other contraptions to realign the toe will only work while the patient is wearing them.  As soon as it is removed, the deformity will go back to an abnormal position.

A bunion is actually a dislocation of the great toe joint cause the head of the metatarsal to become prominent on the side of the foot. So, it’s basically the “knuckle” (as my patients say!) popping out of the side of the foot. Fixing it involves realigning the joint which in turn straightens the toe and reduces the prominent bump.

The sooner the deformity is fixed, the less likely one is to cause more damage to the cartilage of the joint.  If one waits too long, the damage to the cartilage will make it difficult to get a good surgical result because there will be “bone on bone”  in the great toe joint which limits motion and causes pain i.e. arthritis.

I’m excited to now offer Minimally invasive bunion surgery to our patients which greatly reduces recovery time and is a better option for many patients.  It has allowed me to offer bunion surgery to patients who I normally wouldn’t have considered surgery on.



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Chances are, the bump you’re referring to is arthritis of the big toe joint. Many people will call this a bunion, which it is not. A bunion is a bump on the side of your great toe joint that is the result of a dislocation of the joint. The bump that can occur on top of the big toe joint is the result of arthritis from cartilage erosion in the joint. As the cartilage erodes, bone will rub against bone in the joint causing more bone to form in response to the stress. Fragments can also start to occur which can cause grinding to occur.

Wha causes this?

It’s typically a genetic predisposition that you are born with and it worsens over time.

Treatment

Treatment early in is to reduce the motion to the toe which causes the condition to worsen. This is difficult. Sometimes rigid inserts help but most patients see little relief. Cortisone injections can buy time before the inevitable surgical intervention occurs. Surgery can involve cleaning out the joint, replacing the joint, or fusing it.

Questions? Ask them in the comments section below or search my YouTube channel for more information and surgical videos!


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Depending on the procedure performed to correct the deformity, recovery from bunion surgery can take anywhere from 3-6 weeks to 6-8 weeks to recover from. The recovery period is really dependent upon what the patients expectations are or their activity level after surgery.  It is important to remember the surgery involves cutting bone to realign a deformed joint and it takes bone 6-8 weeks to repair itself.  Your foot will be swollen for several months after surgery but again this is dependent on the activity level as well as the procedure that is needed to fix the deformity. Click here to see before and after images of bunion surgery. 


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A bunion is a dislocated big toe joint that results in the head of the metatarsal becoming prominent appearing as bump on inside of the big toe.

While shoes and activity can aggravate a bunion, the cause is mostly genetic. So if your mom or dad had a bunion that’s most likely where yours came from.

Initial treatment consists of wearing wider shoes to help reduce pressure on the bump and toe spacers to realign the big toe while walking. Bunion splints can realign the toe while wearing it but the joint will return to it’s dislocated state when the splint is removed. A splint can NOT fix a bunion.

The only way to reduce a bunion deformity is through surgical correction. This involves cutting the metatarsal bone to realign the joint which reduces the bump. Depending on the type of procedure performed the recovery period can be 3-6 weeks or 6-9 weeks.

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I wouldn't let someone talk you into foot surgery in their office as most surgical procedures are now being performed in outpatient surgery centers. With that being said, there are some simple minimally invasive procedures which can resolve a painful contracted or dislocated toe. I have performed an overwhelming majority of these types of procedures in my office providing relief to patients who have suffered many years with toe pain but didn't want the long recovery periods that many orthopedic surgeons offer which require outdated use of complicated external pins. 


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Patients routinely present to the office with a painful second toe (especially on the bottom of the joint) not realizing the cause of the pain or deformity.  The toe is typically resting higher then the others and the patients complain that the toe is starting to “pop” up in the air.

Below is an example of a bunion correction and relocation of the 2nd toe that is 6 weeks post surgery.  She was back to work and in a regular shoe at this point functioning well with no pain.


9318 ST RT 43, Streetsboro, OH

2660 West Market Street, Fairlawn, OH

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