Bunion Revision Surgery Miami

As with normal bunion surgery, bunion revision surgery can be performed at virtually any age. It is clear that bunions are more frequent in people over 45 years of age, and that is why bunion surgery and bunion revision are more frequent at these ages. But that does not mean that bunion surgery or bunion revision surgery cannot be performed at other ages if necessary.

In fact, bunions even occur in children, although more for genetic and hereditary reasons than for reasons of musculoskeletal wear, poor posture, excessive use of inappropriate footwear, etc. When it comes to younger people, with the body in full development and growth, attempts are made by all means to eliminate bunions using conservative and non-surgical techniques such as changes in posture, the use of appropriate footwear or orthopedic devices such as splints, orthotics, wraps, ridges, tubes, etc.

Bunion revision surgery is not necessarily recommended for all patients whose first bunion surgery has failed. However, second bunion surgery is recommended if after the first surgery if:

• You experience severe pain in the ftoe or in the area.
• You feel that the toe which was operated upon has unusual stiffness.
• Perceive post-surgical arthritis, bone necrosis, or any disorder that compromises the normal function of the foot.

However, the decision to perform bunion revision surgery is primarily made by the surgeon, after the patient communicates the symptoms and after the relevant tests are performed.

Bunions affect women more than men, and older women more than girls. This is a popularly known fact and even statistically proven. In boys and girls, bunions are specifically a problem of genetic inheritance, not because the bunions themselves are inherited. What is inherited is the anatomy of the foot, the way of walking, the posture when standing or sitting, etc. But why do bunions affect women more than men? This is a very frequently asked question.

The answer is that women probably, for reasons of beauty and much more frequently than men, wear inadequate and uncomfortable shoes, with high and thin heels, with a thin toe and are tight fitting, which keeps the toes compressed and the foot in poor condition, the wrong posture, and sustained bone and muscle contraction. When this type of shoe (which pushes the big toe in and puts excessive pressure on the first metatarsal) becomes common, bunions can develop.

According to the medical literature and the criteria of some older specialists, there are more than 100 techniques from which bunion surgery can be applied. However, the vast majority of these techniques are no longer put into practice, and mainly those that we saw above are used (osteotomy, arthrodesis, and exostectomy).

Many of the previously used techniques are due to the different types of bunions and the surgical ways of approaching their treatment, necessarily different from each other because it is not the same, for example, operating a hallux valgus or bunion in the big toe than a tailor’s bunion or little toe bunion, located on the diametrically opposite part of the foot.

In the case of traditional bunion surgery, full successful recovery takes between 6 months (to return to normal physical activities) and one year (to return to the practice of sports and other strenuous physical activities). However, in the case of a minimally invasive bunion surgery like the one we make available to you at Luxe Foot Surgery, the return to normal work activities is achieved in an astonishingly short time: barely 2 weeks, counted from the day of surgery. And the total recovery, with us, is also very short: in 6 weeks, that is, in approximately 1 month and a half, the patient will be fully recovered.

If the patient underwent bunion surgery, and subsequently required bunion revision surgery, it is possible that this was due to bad habits that did they not break after the surgeries, which caused the emergence and re-emergence from bunions. Except in the case of genetic problems, if the patient follows exactly what the doctor recommends and prescribes, and if he abandons the habits that caused the bunion, the reappearance of bunions does not have to become recurring.

However, if the patient does not comply with what is recommended by the specialist and does not give up bad footwear habits, foot posture, or gait, the bunions could reappear chronically.

A completely logical question is whether bunions can return after bunion surgery. Treatment as drastic as surgery is supposed to eliminate bunions forever. The answer is that it doesn’t necessarily eliminate them, or at least not in all cases. If the patient does his or her best, follows all of the podiatrist’s advice, and breaks the habits that led to the bunion, the chance of the bunion recurring and the need for bunion revision surgery is minimal. Some things that the patient can do to avoid bunion recurrences are:

• Avoid the use or excessive use of high-heeled, pointed-toe, tight-fitting or smaller-size footwear than the one that naturally corresponds to your foot.
• Maintain use of orthopedic support devices and accessories if recommended by the physician.
• Consume the drugs that the doctor has prescribed and follow the prescribed method.
• Eliminate foot calluses. If the calluses are recurring, eliminate the action that causes them.

Non-surgical methods to treat bunions are based, in addition to changes in habits and foot postures when walking, on the use of oral or injectable drugs, and on the use of orthopedic accessories that help distribute the stress evenly. This helps spread the body weight between your feet and eliminates stress on your toes. Some of these accessories may be in the form of insoles, socks, or foot or toe wraps, while others are purely plastic, silicone, or metal combination devices such as straightening ridges, splints, and orthotics.

The effectiveness of these non-surgical or conservative methods to treat bunions depends on three strong factors:

1. The mildness or severity of the bunion condition: If the bunion is only mildly developed, or even in its early stages, there is a high chance that non-surgical methods will work. In contrast, if the bunion is at an advanced level of development, non-surgical methods are less likely to work.
2. The dedication that the patient puts into the treatment: The degree of dedication that the person has when putting into practice and following up on the treatment is of great importance. Non-surgical treatments, although they avoid having to go into an operating room, are not even remotely comfortable. If the patient adheres to the letter of what is recommended by the doctor or maintains the correct use of the devices, however uncomfortable they may be, the chances are high that the bunion will be reduced or eliminated. But if the patient does not persevere and has random behavior regarding the prescription, the chance that non-surgical treatment will work is very low.
3. The age of the patient and the cause of the bunion: In all this, the age of the patient plays an important role. If it is a very young patient or even a child, the cause of the bunion will probably be genetic or hereditary, and since it is a developing body, there are possibly very few bad habits to correct. But if the patient is an adult or older adult, the bunions may be due to a lifetime of bad habits and musculoskeletal wear, and it will be less easy to correct the bunions non-surgically.

A very frequent question that patients ask us refers to when they can put pressure back on their feet after bunion revision surgery. Another very frequent question related to the previous one is: How soon can the patient walk again after bunion revision surgery? The answers to these questions are quite positive, which is another of the advantages of the minimally invasive surgery that we offer you at Luxe Foot Surgery. As it is an outpatient and minimal access surgery, the patient will remain resting in the postoperative care unit for 1 to 2 hours after surgery. After this, you can return home.

This means that the patient will receive the instructions in the practice itself when he is still in the clinic and is preparing to go home. At this point, the medical staff will recommend that you put pressure on your feet as little as possible, but you don’t need to avoid it altogether. The important thing, for now, is to prevent the weight of the body from falling on the operated foot, until 2 weeks have passed and the foot can be supported normally.

The doctor will provide the patient with a special type of shoe made to measure. Wearing such special footwear is an essential part of the recovery process. After 1 month or a month and a half, the patient will have the foot fully recovered and will be able to walk normally.

With respect to whether or not insurance covers bunion revision surgeries, as is always the case, the determining factor is whether it is a medical or aesthetic condition. If the previous bunion surgery caused effects that cause the patient pain or interfere with their normal life, this is considered a medical problem and not merely an aesthetic one, for which reason the insurance will generally cover the bunion revision surgery (within the terms of the contract that the patient has obtained, that is, according to the percentages and deductibles of the policy).

On the other hand, if the effects left by the first bunion surgery belong to the area of the merely aesthetic, this will not be considered a medical problem and, in general, health insurance will not cover bunion revision surgery, or at all. the case will not cover most of the total cost.