Friday, February 9, 2018

Foot Surgery the Easy Way

I was born with curly little toes on both feet. That never bothered me until the past year, when the left one decided to curl out a bit more and started rubbing against the insides of formerly comfortable shoes and boots. For a while, I babied it along with band aids and pads but finally it was time for a visit to my wonderful podiatrist Dr. Hoffman (introduced in Respect the Feet).

“What have you done this time?” he asked. I explained that I thought I was getting a bunion. Instead, he identified it as a type of hammer toe, a condition that is often treated by breaking the toe and inserting a wire; big incision, lots of pain, weeks of recovery time. Instead, Dr. H proposed a minimally invasive 10 minute procedure in which a tiny incision is made, the tendon is nicked, and the patient goes back to normal life immediately.

So I did that. The worst part of it was the shots to numb the foot. After that, I really felt no pain at all, either during the procedure or later. Dr. H offered an antibiotic and suggested an over the counter pain med, but I said “No, thanks” to both of those. The only real hassle was keeping the dressing dry for a few days, which meant showering with a towel and a plastic bag around my foot. Now I’m back to wearing my regular shoes and boots. Dr. Hoffman scores again!

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