My Toe Shortening Surgery

1. Can you recommend your Doctor?
My doctor is Dr. Myron Wolf. His website contains other answers : http://www.wolfpodiatry.com/

2. How much does it cost for Toe Shortening Surgery?
The insurance covered my surgery so I do not have the exact price. My surgery was not considered "cosmetic" because I was actually walking on my toe nails. The doctor said within a year my feet were getting worse and eventually i would be getting infections from walking on them so much.

3. How do your toes feel today?
Today my toes feel great! The only thing I would complain about is how they are "stiff" because of the inability of bending them. I recommend if you go through with this procedure to go see a physical therapist post surgery!

4. When did you start walking normally? Is it hard to walk? When did you start running?
-I went on the Odyssey boat downtown Chicago about 5-6 weeks post surgery. I had crutches but was able to walk normally without them.
-It wasn't hard to walk but I was very cautious.
-I ran for the first time during orientation for college at the end of August (little more than a month from surgery).
-I also tried out for the dance team in December so I was able to dance and jump on my feet.

5. Are you able to wear heels? What shoes did you wear?
-First time I wore heels after my surgery was for a wedding in September. They hurt so i switched to flip flops. Today, I can wear heels no problem!
-I couldn't fit into tennis shoes because my left foot was too swollen. Instead, I wore crocs everything for my college orientation. I remember one boy asking me if I owned another pair of shoes! He's still my friend today =) I started wearing tennis shoes and then eventually boots for the winter time and then flip flops for spring!

6. When did the swelling go down?
To be honest, I don't remember exactly when the swelling went down because i looked at my feet everyday. Looking back on the post "1 year and 1 month" after surgery, I could tell from the pictures that the swelling went down. Once in a while, if i walk far or it's hot, humid outside, my toes do swell but they never stay swollen.

7. Do you ever experience pain of your feet?
I do not experience pain on my feet at all.

8. Do you walk differently prior to surgery?
I do not walk differently at all from surgery =)

9. Does it bother you a great deal that you can't bend your toes? Do your toes get stiff from the inability to bend them? Can you wiggle or move them otherwise?
My toes DO bend from the main join but they do not bend from the upper toe joint. For example, I used to grab a pencil with my toes and now my toes do not wrap around the pencil to lift. To be honest, it doesn't bother me. I do spend time bending them from the upper joints. I recommend you go to a physical therapist to make sure this doesn't happen to you. Besides bending my toes, everything else is normal! and I can wiggle them normally!

10. Is there anything that you can't do besides bend your toes since the procedure?
Nope!

11. how painful was the surgery during and after?
I was put to sleep during but after if you read the posts right after the surgery i did have pain but that was only because my toes were "turning" they eventually set and it was fine. Another time i had pain was when he pulled the pins out! I think they use another technique now instead of using pins!

12. What procedures did you get done?
I had bunion surgery on my left foot. I had toe straightening and shortening on 3 toes on each foot. (2nd toe to 4th toe) and I fixed my pinkie toe (straightening it out) on my left foot.

____________________________________________________________________

If you have any other questions, feel free to post a comment. I'm willing to answer any questions!

Thanks for reading!!!!