When Do You Need a Minimally Invasive Foot Surgery?

Your body’s weight rests on your feet, which are the foundation for it. Any pain in your feet for a long time needs to be investigated. If conventional treatment does not work, you may have to go for surgery to fix your feet. With medical technology advancing rapidly, you have minimally invasive foot surgery that can put you back on your feet with minimum hospitalization or discomfort.

Surgery for Common Conditions

Common issues such as bunions and mallet toes can be easily cured through this type of surgery as it is done through a keyhole sized incision. Besides minimum hospital stay, there is negligible blood loss when this surgery is performed. Another advantage is the brief time taken for recovery.

Here are some common conditions treated with this type of surgery:

Hammertoes and Mallet Toes

A hammertoe or a mallet toe is a condition where one or more of your smaller toes curl downwards, causing pain and discomfort. You may require surgical intervention when:

  • You experience excruciating pain
  • Wearing shoes causes discomfort
  • Hammertoe leads to the development of corns and calluses

You may try conventional methods of treatment, including using suitably modified footwear and toe separators. However, suppose such methods do not work. In that case, you may want to look at other options like minimally invasive foot surgery, which allows your surgeon to correct this minor deformity without having to use pins and wires. The recovery rate is faster than conventional surgical methods, with a reduced risk of infections caused by pins. You can expect to return to normalcy as early as two weeks.

Arthritis

Arthritis not only affects your knees, but it can also affect your feet. Arthritis in your big toe can cause a lot of pain and stiffness whenever you try to stand, walk, or run. Specialized non-invasive surgery helps your doctor to remove the arthritic portion of the toe (bone). The bone debris is flushed out through the keyhole incision. This tiny incision does not even require any surgical sutures as it heals by itself.

You can expect a complete recovery in a few weeks, and the pain is reduced considerably, offering significant relief. Moving around is a lot easier as your toes regain their normal position, and you can move your toe and foot at will. Generally, doctors recommend keyhole surgery only when all other treatment options are exhausted.

Bunions and Bunionettes

Some people develop bunions and Bunionettes on their big toes’ joints, which can be very painful. Also known as tailor’s bunion, they appear on the pinky side of the toe. Often, minimally invasive foot surgery is a good option, especially if you:

  • Are suffering from bunions for a long time, and the bunions keep growing
  • Find it difficult to wear shoes (bad fit), which affects your day-to-day activities.
  • All other minimally invasive options are ruled out as they don’t work.

The advantage of going for keyhole surgery is that you don’t need to be put under general anesthesia. You will be under mild sedation, and the particular area of your foot will be completely numbed. Your surgeon will make some tiny incisions that don’t require more than a stitch or two to seal the opening.

The bunion is removed, and the bone is realigned, allowing you to go back to your routine activities like driving or shopping. You can get back to work and perform simple tasks right away and go back to complete normalcy in a few days after the surgery.

The surgery is safe and takes less time than the conventional methods used for routine surgery. The main advantages are faster recovery and minimum scarring.