Just a Simple Bunion Surgery………Right?

Without doubt, the more common surgical procedure that your local Podiatric Physician will perform is to correct a bunion. Some might say, its our Bread and Butter surgery. If you were taking a standardized test with a verbal section, you might find something like this: Jim Carey is to Facial expressions AS a Podiatrist is to Bunion surgery. Its what they both do. Please dont get me wrong, I love bread and butter AND I think Jim Carey is quite good at facial contortions, but there is more to your Podiatrist than bunions. Also, a bunion surgery is not necessarily an easy surgery. It is often seen as such, but there is a lot more to it than most people realize.

What makes a bunion tick?

When someone approaches a Podiatrist concerning their painful OR unsightly bunion your physician is going to have some x-rays taken. These x-rays are more valuable than you might understand. Obviously, they give your physician a visible idea of the underlying structure of your bones. However, this isnt the most important aspect of his evaluation. Your physician will take some time to map out and measure various angles in respect to your bunion. These various angles provide him invaluable information about your bunion that is specific to you. The measured angles will guide him as he looks to correct your bunion with the appropriate procedure. If I failed to mention it earlier, there are a ton of bunion procedures to pick from.

Which procedure is the best?

The procedure of choice is based on the measure angles your physician took time to find. There are different types of procedures based on where in the bone the corrective osteotomy (cut) will be made. These types are defined on the area of the bone and are the: head, shaft, OR base. The severity of the measure angles determines which type to choose. Once the type is decided, you now have multiple procedures within each type to choose from.

So as you can see, a bunion surgery is more involved than just shaving the bump off the side, especially if wanting it done correctly.

If you are thinking of having surgery to correct a bunion, please contact Dr. Bowman at at713-467-8886 or visit our website.

Photo Credit: olovedog via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Category: Foot Health

Tags: Bunion, Deformities, Surgery, Treatment