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 😬

@Arran2024 would you mind giving a link for the socklets?

Type "orthopedic compression socks" into Amazon and lots come up. Sorry I cant send you a link but if I do you would see my personal details on the page.

I would go for the really fine ones. You want to move everything subtly over time.

I have awful bunions. I had one operated on at the beginning of this year, and will have the other done in a couple of months. I had a traditional scarf and akin procedure, not keyhole and was back running in under 3 months, minimal pain. I know someone said it was the most painful surgery, but that was not my experience at all. I was back working the next day.

I am trying to attach a couple of photos from about 8 weeks post op and now, but not sure it is working with the controls. If it does, please excuse the growing out gel polish from the summer! 😳

PaellaPan
Can I ask what difference it’s made to you since having the op?

Great to hear you are still able to run, that’s something that I was worried would be affected.

apparently my growing out nail polish doesn't pass the filters. Try again with a bit of AiI enhancement....
Photo above is from 8 weeks post op, this one from today

I can wear shoes other than soft wide fitting trainers, although I do still wear them for running and I am back able to run as far as I want again, albeit still a bit slower but I am in my 50s, so I try not to care about that and have chosen to stay at 10k and below this year instead of pushing further until the other is done. Most importantly, it is pain free and recovery at this age had a much better prognosis than waiting until later. Mine are hereditary, dad and grandparent both had them and were crippled in old age. I hope by next summer, I can stop feeling completely self conscious of anyone seeing my ugly feet too!

Can anyone recommend someone for gait analysis and orthotics provision in London please? Thanks to everyone who’s shared treatment experience, I thought bunions were just something you had to live with until you could face surgery.

Appreciate that the thread is 6 months old. Thought I’d search for bunion surgery. Saw a surgeon today and booked in for surgery on one foot next week and then the other foot planned for August.

He said that pain is from the start of arthritis (mid 40’s, so didn’t expect that). I’ll update after the surgery.

It’s a day case under general. He said I’d be off my feet for 2 weeks then should work from home for 4 weeks, then physio.

🤣

I had the surgery on my left foot when I was 17.
It healed fine, but as the years have gone by, I've developed another bunion!

It’s now a year since mine - I had both on same day, was done under local with sedation, key hole. Similar 2 weeks in bed and I had 4 more weeks in surgical boots / working from home.

I’ve got them and at one point they were really painful, but wearing different shoes works: I can wear Skechers, wedge high heels, Fitflop leather trainers. Han Wag hiking boots. Flipflops, sandals with wide straps over the area (e.g. not sexy skinny strap shoes) Wide fit shoes can be a partial solution, but they tend to be wide all over, whereas what you need are wide at the toe and narrow to support the heel. Google “brands for feet with bunions”. Re pain, my sister had both feet done at the same time and said the post surgery pain was awful, but she’s now pain free. It’s encouraging to hear that not everyone has terrible pain.

Honestly the deviation isn't that severe at first glance so I'm puzzled by the level of pain. Suggests perhaps other foot mechanics issues - my transverse arches both collapsed and I developed bursitis between three metatarsals plus hammer toes both second toes. Wasn't keen on surgery so saw private podiatrist for custom insoles [pricey but worth it] and only wear one type of trainer [New Balance 574 half a size up].
But you say you've tried all that.
Arthritis maybe?

I qualified for bunion surgery but a friend had it and no kidding it crippled her for over a year. She could not do anything with impact and was in agony. I decided to wear wide flat shoes

I wouldn’t have qualified on the NHS not bad enough.

My work medical insurance picked up most of the cost but the surgeon (world expert in key hole surgery) charged more than AXA covered so I had to pay an excess. Either way I paid around £1,200 out of a total cost of around £12k (both feet) with no pain at all and back to pretty much normal after 6 weeks so that’s a win (I couldn’t stand for long periods for around 3 months).

I qualified for NHS surgery (privately) on both but didn’t go ahead as actually mine aren’t painful. Unless I wear shoes that pinch. Just unsightly and dictate what shoes I can wear.

I helped look after someone who had the surgery. She was offered a choice to have it or not, on the basis that it was bad enough but that it would be extremely painful, and not always help.

I had my right foot done. Totally worth it. Sore foot are miserable and mine would give shooting pains when lying in bed..could bear it touching the sheet.

The op is not that bad. I had a GA and the local worked well for 36 hours. Hurt badly for 3 hours on day 3.

After than just tight and weird.

Had mine done on insurance through work and looking at the bill..all together it was £3.5k

I would have put it on a credit card or taken out a loan knowing what I know now. No regret at all

Thanks all. I’ll share my experience after I have the op. Appreciate the feedback 😊

P.s. I’m most excited about the time off work 🙊🤣

Could you be suffering from gout as well as bunions, I haven’t got bunions but the toe joint where you get bunions is where I have suffered from gout?

I should go upstairs and replicate my first photo on this thread so I can convince myself of how much better my right foot is now. It is about 4 months post op and the scar has been slower to settle this time and my foot occasionally randomly swells. With that said, it doesn't hurt although I am 'aware' of it when I run. I am back at about a 30 minute 5km pace so suspect I am pushing my body harder now both are done. Seeing the surgeon again in a few weeks, he didn't ask to see me this far on after the first one so I also don't know if he did something slightly different to this one as the scar is a bit higher up too.

My tips would be.. have a bag of your stuff near you..medication, water bottle, phone charger, books, snacks, and two flexible cooling gel packs..you can get ones with velcro to hold it in place. One for foot and one for fridge.

Do walk round the room every hour to reduce risk of blood clots, do the leg lifts and ankle rotation but keep foot elevated as much as possible to minimise swelling

Start toe flexibility physio as soon as they say you can. I wasn't advised this and my toe is less flexible..but pain free!

I had bathes rather than showers whilst the dressing was on and stuck my leg over the edge resting on a chair!

Good luck x

Thanks @Beebopwasthebest. Great advice!

Last time I had surgery it was a c-section, so I had to hobble round after a toddler and newborn straightaway!! This time I’m going to get comfortable on the sofa all day 😂