Bunions: Surgical treatment and Recovery

Bunions: Surgical treatment and recovery

What’s a bunion? You can read about that here, and about non-surgical treatments here.

When is it time to consider bunion surgery?

Bunions can develop over time and become painful. Once the pain limits what you want and need to do, it is reasonable to consider bunion surgery.

Of course, we recommend attempting nonoperative treatment first before considering any surgery.

There are risks in any surgery, even bunion surgery. You can discuss your specific risks with your doctor, and read more about what to expect after surgery here.  

What is bunion surgery?

There are a lot of different ways to fix a bunion, but the goal is to correct the deformity in the bones of the first toe. In general, surgical fixation uses a combination of osteotomies (cutting the bones) and soft tissue repair to correct the alignment of the first toe and to remove that annoying ‘bump.’

As all bunions are unique, we work to customize a bunion surgical plan for each patient.

Which bunion surgery is the best?

Good question! There is no single technique that is ‘the best.’ We customize surgical plans for each of our patients. This includes type of bunion surgery, type of fixation, and post-operative rehabilitation.

Will my bunion come back?

Technically, it is possible for a bunion to come back. However, we use our customized plans to minimize the risk of recurrence of your bunion. Plus, if a bunion does reoccur, it typically is less painful and does not require any additional treatment.

The American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) has more information about bunions at FootCareMD.

For more questions or to set up an evaluation, contact Dr. Stautberg’s office at 281-977-4870.

Author

Eugene Stautberg, MD