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.
