Still in Pain After Your Bunion Surgery? Our Ballantyne Podiatrist Describes Some Treatment Options

Podiatrists perform bunion surgery to alleviate pain and to restore normal toe and joint alignment. Bunion treatment, offered by our Ballantyne podiatrists, may require wires, plates, or screws to firmly hold bones in place. While surgery can be successful, there are no guarantees that surgery will fully relieve the patient’s pain. However, the patient is sure to experience a degree of intense pain without the surgery.

Options for Treatment After Surgery

A patient can still experience pain after treatment. However, they can benefit from undergoing revision surgery. Revision surgery changes or revises the original surgery. Revision surgery is just as complex, or can be more so, than the original surgery. It takes an experienced podiatrist to perform a successful revision bunion surgery. Depending on what type of solution your Ballantyne podiatrist decides to pursue, there are different types of bunion surgery.

1. Your doctor may perform a procedure called exostectomy, or bunionectomy. The doctor attempts to remove parts of the foot that bulge out.

2. As part of bunion treatment, the doctor can correct the big toe’s joint by realigning soft tissue that surrounds it.

3. Your doctor may also choose to perform osteotomy and place the bones in as normal a position as possible.

4. Our Ballantyne podiatrist may also choose to perform a fusion of the joint where the metatarsal merges with the mid-foot.

Living Through Foot Surgery

After surgery, you can expect recovery to last from six weeks to six months on average. Recovery time depends on the extent of surgery and the amount of bone and soft tissue affected. Your doctor may advise the following:

• When showering, protect your foot and stitches from getting wet. The stitches are usually removed about a week to 20 days after surgery. Doctors usually remove protruding pins between three to five weeks after surgery.
• Your podiatrist will advise when you can wear normal shoes. In the meantime, your doctor may require you to wear special ones. Your doctor will also suggest that you refrain from putting any weight on your foot for six to eight weeks after surgery.

For bunion treatment or surgery, call our Ballantyne podiatrists today to set an appointment for consultation. Our foot doctors can perform the bunion removal surgery with precision and affordably.