Advances in Bunion Surgery
By:
Michael Zapf, D.P.M., M.P.H.
I received a wonderful note the
other day from Carol, a patient of mine. She stated “Dr. Zapf, I love my new
feet and I thank you every time I wear heels!” Carol had bunion surgery about a
year ago on both feet. I would like to tell you a little about Carol’s story.
When
Carol first came to my office she was only 27 years
old but had suffered front bunion pain for almost five years. She described the
pain as a burning sensation at the joint just behind her big toes. She noticed
that the joint was enlarging and that her big toe was
leaning against her little toes. Shoe wearing, especially heels and pointed toe
styles, was becoming increasingly more painful. She tried stretching her shoes
and even changing shoe styles but the pain remained. Carol had heard that bunion
surgery was painful and risky and had put off seeking a solution as long as she
could.
At a
visit to her gynecologist’s office she talked happened to mention her foot pain
to a nurse. As it happened, the nurse, herself, was a patient of mine who had
her bunions surgically corrected a few months prior. The story Carol received
about bunion surgery from the nurse was so positive and so different from what
she was led to believe that she caine to my office immediately.
What I
told Carol was what I am sure most foot surgeons are telling their bunion
patients. In the past surgical techniques were crude compared to what we are
doing today. Today bunion surgery is routinely performed as an outpatient
procedure with surprisingly little pain. If a bone has to be surgically
fractured and reset, we use an interlocking technique that eliminated unwanted
motion thus assuring both quicker healing and less pain. With special attention
to balancing the pull of the tendons affecting the bunion joint, recurrence is
unlikely.
Carol
gathered her courage and decided to have her surgery. The rest is, as they say,
a footnote of history. A short time later she was wearing shoes that previously
left her almost in tears. So to your letter, Carol, I would like to answer a
public “You’re welcome!”.
Dr. Michael
Zapf is in
private
practice in Agoura
Hills. He is
on the attending staff of the L.A.
County University
of Southern California Medical Center. For more
information or a brochure on bunion surgery please contact his office at (818-
707-3668.
