How the hell to cope with bunions?!

[BunionGate]

Hey! Has anyone here ever had experience with bunion treatments?

basically I’ve had it since I was a child and it’s just been worsening (late 20s now). I went to the doctors, they initially said it was a bunion- then sent me for an x ray and then said it wasn’t actually a significant bunion and told me to live with it. I went to multiple podiatrists, tried insoles, splints, different shoes and nothing has helped. I went back to the GP and saw someone different and they said mine wasn’t that bad and I wouldn’t qualify for treatment on the NHS and sort of made me feel silly for even considering getting it corrected. Then they said the surgery was agony and made it seem really brutal and put me completely off it. They told me just to go back to podiatry, which I did, but they said we’ve exhausted all options and to go back to my gp🤷🏼‍♀️

basically I’m feeling a bit frustrated and fed up, but equally the surgery sounds awful from what the doctor said (and they also made it crystal clear I was being dramatic for even considering it and apparently I won’t get accepted on the nhs anyway)

but it’s getting worse and can be excruciating. I don’t care about how unsightly it looks but the pain is having such an impact on my life in terms of wearing shoes which cause discomfort and affecting playing sports etc.

has anyone had bunions and had anything that helped at all? I’ll add a pic below to show what it’s like in terms of severity

thanks 😬

Thanks, I think you've given me the impetus to make the appointment. If your podiatrist happens to be in the NW of England, please let me know!

I have had 3 bunion surgeries (1 regrew). I have had foot problems all my life and have had multiple other foot surgeries including 5 bone fusions and breaking and resetting 6 of my toes.

Bunion surgery is pretty debilitating. Each foot meant 2 weeks in plaster and 6 weeks in a boot to the knee. The recovery was uncomfortable but not painful. It's worth it because bunion pain is horrible.

I have extremely wide feet and am lucky because I qualify for shoes made for me by the NHS but as I said, my foot problems are extreme.

I recommend crocs (they're my everyday go to shoes and are very wide so very comfortable. They make trainers too - I wear 'echo surge'). I also wear birkenstocks and brooks trainers. But I am very limited in footwear and couldn't possibly imagine wearing any kind of heals or shoes without cushioned support. Crocs aren't cushioned but for me they are a life saver!

If you're near Cardiff, 'Ace foot in Motion' do good gait analysis and make insert orthotics accordingly.

I had surgery this year and it’s been amazing, no more pain, and perfect feet. I was lucky that my work insurance paid for around 90% of it. Had both feet done even though the left foot wasn’t as bad as the right one, as both caused niggling pain.

i had both feet done at same time in March. Recovery time was 6 weeks, including 2 of basically lying in bed all day, and 2 more with crutches. Surgery done as outpatient, and not painful.

I used the “Bunion Doctor” he is on Instagram - was a personal recommendation - he does keyhole surgery. Privately will cost circa £12k for both feet.

This is my right foot 6 months post surgery. The bone has healed around the screws. Surgeon confident with this technique (keyhole) rhey won’t come back

Really interesting to see the X-ray. Do you happen to have a before pic?

Have you looked into barefoot shoes?

I have bad bunions and tailors bunions and have gradually switched to barefoot shoes and it's gradually fixing the bunions.

Flat shoes is key! As is a wide toe box so the toes aren't being squeezed together.

Do it gradually though so your foot muscles can grow. Barefoot Brit on social media has some great advice

What boots are you all wearing? What brands? Needed to wear boots again yesterday because of the weather and started to get foot pain on my commute. Realised it was probably coming from my bunion. Usually, I don't get pain, just think they're not pretty. But need more than trainers in the winter for work.

https://www.groundies.com/uk/barefoot-shoes-women/barefootplus-fit/groundies-salzburg-barefoot-women-black.html they are so comfortable

This is the before.

Thanks. I like the look of softness of the leather and the bendiness of the sole but probably need a not quite flat heel. I have very high arches as well which makes getting comfortable footwear a really tedious process. They look a bit Camper- like.

I mostly wear Lanx chelsea type boots and in winter I have a great pair of le chameau wellies lined with leather and made from real rubber so they're flexible - they weren't cheap but they have had many years of almost daily winter use so worth the spend. think I got the wide version. Otherwise I wear trainers.

I had mine corrected when I was about 26 but what they didn’t tell me was mine is caused because I over-pronate when I walk so it’s come back! They told me when I went back that I should wear inner soles to correct this but didn’t tell me until it was too late….
it causes me considerable pain, especially if my shoes are tight against it. The pain shoots up my big toe and is very uncomfortable.
I have really wide feet anyway so lovely high heels aren’t an option….

I also find that my left foot is very painful at night only - why is this? At one point I wondered if it was gout, I couldn't bear the weight of covers on my foot! But the pain gradually is subsiding as the bone starts to become more prominent so I have guessed that it's the movement of the toe that is causing the pain. The right hand one developed very very gradually from the age of about mid twenties (that's the one where the big toe now lies on top of the second toe with the consequent large boney bump on the outside) and never hurt. The left hand one has only started to develop over the last couple of years (I'm 64).

I'm find this all fascinating, hearing about other people's bunions...

I have bunions - worse on one foot than the other. The fact is that many people’s feet (mainly women’s) are squashed into shoes with too-small toe boxes. I now mainly wear barefoot shoes and do exercises to splay and strengthen my toes to help with the discomfort.

In the evenings I often use silicon toe separators - they look like a bit like those foam separators you use for pedicures but you can walk easily in them. They’re weird but honestly have been a big help, my toes are no longer cramped together and my arches are also stronger.

Another fan of barefoot shoes here to address my bunions.

I've got very wide feet and found even normal high street shoes that were wide fit caused me foot pain.

So when trying to find wide shoes online have found barefoot options and now wear these almost exclusively. As others have said using toe separators, and building up your foot muscles are key. I do occasionally get some plantar fascitis, and have to tape my foot for a while to stop me over using and inflaming it (but I'm also on the hyper mobile side, so probably more prone to this).

In my opinion it's worth trying them even if you still choose to have surgery down the line.

Someone else has recommended barefoot Brit on insta, she is great at sharing all the shoe companies, and some like belenka are almost stylish, and splay are actually not expensive and more like regular trainer style! Takes a while to get your head around seeing foot shaped shoes.

Along with appropriate size toe boxes, foot physio can massively relieve symptoms and ultimately decrease their appearance.

Look on YouTube for exercises to try.

I had mine corrected 3 years ago on my left foot (through bupa). Day surgery case, no pain that day thanks to all the drugs. Foot was bandaged and in a shoe. Did find the next couple of weeks quite painful and I basically was housebound for 2 weeks. After that the bandages came off and I had to wear the shoe/use crutches for a further 4 weeks. Then back in normal shoes (well trainers). I had swelling for about 5 months. I have full movement of my toe and am pain free! I would 100% recommend (the pain was quite severe at times but take the painkillers and it’s manageable). I will have my right foot done when I can justify 6 weeks off work (won’t be able to drive)

I developed one at 60. Cortisone injections helped a bit but not any more. The podiatry department I work in has its own podiatric surgeon so he's going to fix mine via normal referral route.
It can't possibly be worse than my hip replacement but quite honestly I don't care. It's so painful I can't put shoes on. I. Wearing slippers to work.
See if you can be referred to a podiatrist surgeon if your trust has one its a much quicker waiting list.

South West I'm afraid and even worse (for me not her) she retired last year.
Really hope you get a good result.

@SeaAndStars ha okay, no worries! I will give one of the local ones a go. I’ve been researching this morning.

A close friend had the surgery and she said it was brutal

I second this, barefoot shoes cause me no bunion pain.

Plus as my toes are naturally spreading, my bunion looks less pronounced.

I had keyhole surgery in March on both feet. It was not “brutal”. Done as outpatient. Pain was minimal, most annoying was for first two weeks surgeon wanted me to elevate feet to reduce swelling. Had crutches for 4 weeks, surgical boots for 6.

I had an incredibly painful bunion. I got some of those little socklets with toes, which I wore for a couple of months at night, and it actually helped enormously. I still have a slight bunion but nothing like before and it doesn't hurt.