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many years with toe pain but didn’t want the long recovery periods that many orthopedic surgeons offer which require outdated use of complicated external pins.

Here is an example of a recent procedure performed on a patient with a dislocated second toe that was rubbing on her shoe creating severe pain and wound from irritation. She was told by other surgeons that this type of deformity would require a fusion of her big toe which she did not want to undergo as her previous foot surgeries had failed which created this problem.

A simple tendon release was performed in office requiring only a small incision and a single suture. A gauze splint is applied for 2 days and a follow up visit is required to remove the suture. At this point return to full unrestricted activity is allowed.

How can you tell if if this will work for you?

This will not work for every dislocated toe as I also perform fusion procedures to realign toes in more chronic and severe situations.  If you are able to manually relocate your toe to a normal or straight position, than you may be a candidate for this surgery.