Toe Shortening Surgery

Bunion correction and toe shortening 

A foot that looks good generally works well. Many people suffer in silence with their feet wearing ugly shoes rather than suffer foot pain, others are intensely embarrassed by their feet and will go to extraordinary lengths to keep them covered and out of sight.

Such sufferers can be greatly helped by surgery. Every surgical operation however carries risks and it is important to weigh up the benefits versus the risks, it certainly would not be wise to undergo major foot surgery just so your foot can fit a certain shoe but if your toes cause you so much embarrassment that you can never wear sandals, go swimming or lie on a beach then foot surgery can turn lives around.

Surgery can correct all the following conditions that cause a great deal of embarrassment and footwear problems to many people:

Bunions

This is a 28 year old woman who has suffered with bunions since childhood and was limited to wearing Hotter lace up shoes

Bunion Before Surgery	Bunion After Surgery

The aim is to make the foot look as natural as possible and conceal the scars in the shadow at the side of the foot. In this case the big toe was twisted as well as going off at an angle.

This is a moderate bunion deformity in a 22 year old woman which caused her great embarrassment

Mild deformity in a 20 year old woman but this joint was causing severe pain that did not get better with splints, cortisone injections or wearing ugly shoes. Following surgery she no longer has any foot problems.

The overlapping of the big toe made it impossible to get shoes with a normal to box without causing pain around the toe nail and this 40 year old was too embarrassed to wear open toes shoes or sandals

A common problem is that with increasing deformity the smaller toes get pushed out of alignment so in this case they had to be addressed too.

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his 55 year old lady has rheumatoid arthritis which was deforming all her toes. After surgery  the foot is much narrower and no longer requires orthopaedic footwear. 

In this case the big toe joint was constantly rubbing on the side of the shoe and causing pain and inflammation. The operation has made the foot much narrower so any style of shoes can now be worn. The photo is taken only 6 weeks post op so the foot is still a little swollen  at this stage.

The second toe was becoming hammered due to pressure from the big toe and both toes required surgery to stop them rubbing on the upper of the shoe

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Sometimes the deformity can be so sever that it starts to wreck the other toes as well and they need to be corrected at the same time.

This xray shows how the bunion is fixed on the inside to reduce the likelihood of the problem recurring.

Cross over 2nd toe and bunion, prior to surgery the second toe was dislocated and completely floppy.

Long 2nd hammer toe with obvious corn, 3rd mallet toe and bunion. The second and third toes have been shortened and the bunion corrected.

Bunion and Windswept toes. Deformity like this will just keep progressing.

This is severe deformity with dislocation of all the smaller toes which were completely corrected during the one procedure which took 50 minutes to complete.

Mallet 3rd toe with obvious callus, this was really painful but also very embarrassing for this 20 year old woman.

Bent 3rd and 4th toes with pressure callus over the joint in this 19 year old meant that she refuse to allow her feet to be seen prior to surgery.

Hammer 2nd toe which has been corrected to make it slightly shorter as well

Fat thickened 2nd toe meant this lady never wore open toe shoes but also had pain from the side of the toe where she was taking all her weight. The toenail also proved very difficult to cut prior to surgery to straighten the toe:

Cross over little toe. This 30 year old accountant found it very difficult to wear business shoes prior to his operation which restored the little toe to a normal position.

This 28 year old woman wanted her little toe amputated it was causing her so much pain and limiting her shoes so much, this problem is however completely correctable with surgery.

This so called Tailor’s bunion or bunionette is very sore against shoes for this 16 year old girl. The xrays show the correction of the mal-aligned joint

This bony lump on the top of the arch of the foot was a source of acute embarrassment but also made it impossible for this policeman to tie his shoes properly. The post op photo is taken immediately after surgery.