Bunion surgery

[Lesslie]

I wanted to know if anyone is unhappy with thier bunion surgery. I regret that I did not have keyhole surgery. Instead they put a screw in my foot so the little toes lined up more with the big toes, and not facing the opposite direction. I now limp on my foot as its stiff. Also my foot is swollen. I had an xray as you have to, just so they can finalise it all,.and they said it was fine. I'm not sure who I can get to do a second opinion. Maybe I would have to go private ..I can't wear flops now which was my favourite to wear in the summer due to having wide feet and a bunion.

@Beebopwasthebest how is your recovery?

It's going pretty well I think.😊

I took about four low doses of codeine on days 1 to 4, alongside paracetamol. Day 3 into 4 was the most painful. It's not sore much of the time now but I am definitely making sure I don't catch it on anything or knock it whilst walking. The shoe is a good re-assurance here.

I have found my hips and ankles a bit sore from being so sedentary and keeping my foot up - so definitely recommend doing the physio stretches and I have adapted some yoga stretches too. I wasn't expecting this.

I am usually quite active so I am appreciating my strength/flexibility when it comes to getting myself in and out of the bath, doing stairs or reaching for things. I didn't have crutches and am wearing a wedge sandal on the other foot to even the height difference due to the shoe.

I have a weekend bag with chargers, book, tablets in which means everything is in reach and I take it into which ever room I am in.

Stitches were removed yesterday and big pressure bandage is off. I have a couple of steri-strips and small dressing on it and will probably have a "proper" bath after the weekend. I will use stool to sit on in our walk in shower

Main issue is sleeping, I think I usually move around a lot and this is not possible. I slept in the shoe for the first 10 days but it's too uncomfy now.

Happy to answer anything else.

I saw my foot yesterday and my lumpy companion of 30 years has gone!! ...that was weird!

Glad your recovery is going well. I’ve found the same with sore ankles and hips which i think is down to the boot being heavy and making me uneven, i’ve also wore a wedge to even me up. I saw my ‘new” foot for the first time too. You are right, it’s weird. I’m looking forward (once i’ve had the other done” to be able to wear nice shoes/flip flops on hols as opposed to wearing what covers my foot b

Thank you for the update, really appreciated! My keyhole bunion surgery is coming up in 2 months time via NHS. Look forward and at the same time do not look forward to that!

I had it done privately about 5 years ago, open surgery, but my scars are miniscule and on the side of my foot. My surgeon was an advocate for doing both feet at once. He's insistent that you stay off your feet with your feet elevated for six weeks. Trips to the toilet, a once a day shower, and physio once the pressure bandages have come off, is all he allows, so feels it's better to go through it once rather than twice. It was a huge faff organising my life to be off my feet for that long, but I feel like I've had the most successful recovery of anyone I know who's had it done. They physio, which I did twice a week, was also incredibly helpful as he really manipulated the toes to increase flexibility and keep internal scar tissue from forming. I do have pins and it took a year before I could basically forget I'd had it done, I found the hardest part was sleeping on my back.

Hope it's gone well for you!

I had both done together over 20 years ago ( was in pot, and no pins) , over the years they have come back, i think a mixture of not pinned and i did still wear heels quite a lot. I asked for both to be done together this time to avoid more time off work etc but the surgeon wouldn’t, that said i’m not sure if i would have been able to manage as well as i have just having one done, although at least 2 together would be over and done with now and i won’t have the inconvenience of the boot etc again.

I had both done at once but no physio. One has healed really well but the other hasn't, they are arranging physio now to ease the stiffness and thickening of my forefoot. Bones are fine, hopefully they be able to do something as I still can't walk far without pain.

I really hope the physio helps with the foot that is sore. I had an appointment booked but I missed it thinking it won't help. Perhaps I should rebook it. I ordered shoes from widefit. I still limp as the right foot is bigger than the left so my toes are always scrunched up. I totally sympathise with you

Update 2:

I developed a blood clot unfortunately. It's not quite a DVT but is being treated as such.
There is a chance with any surgery and immobility increases this risk. I knew this.

I am on blood thinner tablets now for at least 12 weeks. It wasn't particularly painful. I had, what I thought was mild cramp during the night. 4 days later my deep calf still felt sore and very very slightly bigger/congested. so I went to A and E (who were amazing). Had blood tests for d-dimers and an ultra sound scan.

I can't help feel maybe I rested "too much" ?? Though I have been re-assured it is just one of those things😔.

If I could re-wind I would set a timer on my phone and walk, regimentedly for 5 minutes every hour. It might not have changed things but I would feel better about the situation. It's very easy to just "watch next episode" on netflix.

The foot seems to be doing ok, I am walking around much more as inactivity is not advised with a clot. However after about 15-20 mins my foot swells a bit and calf goes slightly darker and aches so I elevate again. I am also using a coolpack now on my foot. I think this would happen even without the clot?

I've been told to walk little and often
.but my "C type personality' wishes they would be more specific.

...bad weather and unexpected redundancy process whilst on sick leave too! Heigh Ho!

Oh no sorry to read this update. Hope everything starts to improve for you soon. X

Can I just ask people what problems you had with bunions prior to surgery? I would like mine done, but it’s mainly because they are unsightly.
I do have some discomfort at times, but I don’t know if I could have them done on NHS if I am not having severe pain.

Mine was painful, definitely. I thought about the surgery for 2 years and waited until it was becoming more painful .

Certain shoes were a definite no (My new Dr. Martens😔).
Squatting down to do gardening was painful after about 15 minutes and sometimes, randomly I would get sharp stabbing pains in the joint..often at night or when walking - really sore!

I used to sleep with my foot over the edge of the mattress because it felt horrible resting it on the sheet.

This has been harder than I expected, I'm week 8 now and I've lost a lot of strength, flexibility and fitness and I've gained 4kg - just because I was used to being so active. The scars have healed but toe flexibility is not back to normal (I can't do proper planks in yoga yet) so I'm doing physio on the foot.

I took 10 weeks off work (active career), I'm back in two weeks and I am a bit worried, my foot gets puffy and stiff after a heavy day.

I'm glad I had it done, it's been harder and less of a "break" from work than I had hoped...a definite recuperation. I think I'm where I should be though? Just impatient and frustrated . It can take a year for things to finish healing.

I wouldn't have done it for cosmetic reasons, especially given the clot and the surgeon advised specifically against doing it for appearances sake.

Happy to answer anything else, I found these forums really useful.

Thanks Beebop, I’ll hang on for now. Good luck with your recovery.

Im in week 10 now and my flexibility has increased quite a lot in the last two weeks. I began physio two weeks ago as I was worried about how stiff my foot was (not the big toe I had the op on) more so the others. Physio advised it was because my tendons were tight because of non use and the position the heel walking boot forced my foot into so gave me a set of exercises. Been back at work for 2 weeks now and the more walking I do the better it’s getting. My physio advised yesterday I have dropped metatarsals and gave me some padding to put near the ball of my foot to help, it feels so much better with that so going to research some insoles or something to help. He did say it’s possibly the bunions that caused it as you don’t walk “normally” with bunions. I didn’t realise how much my bunions hurt until I’ve had one done and can really tell the difference in each foot. Cant wait till I have the other foot done early next year now. Hope your recovery goes well.

That's really encouraging Cristine1998, thank you so much. I've just been massaging and doing exercises which I've researched myself but I might book a physio appointment.
Really happy to hear your pain is improving, sore feet are miserable!

I had scarf-osteotomies on both feet (6 months apart) - nearly 15 years ago. Best decision ever. Recovery took some time, but don't regret it as the bunion pain was so bad it used to make me feel sick!

I would really recommend physio. I’ve had 2 appts now and it’s a massive improvement. The exercises he gave have really loosened the tightness and he said the range of flexibility on the big toe and my ankle (from the position of the heel boot) has improved massively. My foot is still slightly swollen but the surgeon said it could be for a while yet, it doesn’t seem to worsen when I’ve walked a lot. (The main exercise he gave me was to stand on a step and push my heel down to stretch the tendon from the calf and and then stretch up on to tip toe's as high as you can go. It did hurt to start with but eases as your are doing them and has lessened over the 2 week period)