We all know that wear and tear of any joints of our body can make it painful, unstable and at times they start forming those spurs and bony overgrowths. Commonly, a person suffering from this degenerative joint disease will always let this condition go on for a long time. This will always cause the bone spurs to grow more and more and ultimately, they will freeze up the joints. This will make it stiff and immovable causing pain and redness.
Finally, we realize something is wrong and we need some expert advice. So, as a human being, all of us try to procrastinate things, which we believe is scary for us, especially something like surgery. We only go for it once we don’t have any other option of recovery and pain relief. Hence, it is always advisable that you need to start recognizing the signs at an early stage and start acting on them immediately. The same thing goes with the disease called the Bunions. They appear quite subtly with just a small bump and with no symptoms initially. However, later the condition worsens and without treatment, it can get dangerous.
A bunion surgery would always be the last option, so in cases like bunions, if they are treated early, surgeries can be avoided. Mainly people take such diseases for granted, as it does not cause any discomfort in the beginning. What they don’t know is that it can affect their daily activities in the long run. Hence, visiting your podiatrist is the best option at the early stage. If you are looking for some good doctors, then you can visit the site of a Podiatrist in Irvine. They are good at resolving any kind of foot trauma through preventive measures or recommended treatments. They also perform the most sophisticated foot and ankle surgeries.
Some of the questions to ask regarding a bunion include:
- Are your other toes affected by these bunions?
- Are you not able to wear your favorite footwear because of this bunion?
- How is it affecting your daily activities?
- Is there any pain or discomfort due to these bunions?
If you get all the answers here as yes, then it is time to get your treatment done. It will not only be painful, but will make you physically weak too.
Let us get into some basics first:
What are bunions?
Bunions are a bony bump that appears at the joint of the base of your big toe. It looks like some part of your bone on the front of your foot comes out of its place and it pushes the big toe to move towards the other toes. As mentioned earlier, this needs to be treated immediately as it does not go away on its own. Surgery is always going to be the last resort for treatment.
Early signs of bunions:
At a very early stage, it would look like a bump on the outside base of the toe. There might be swelling, redness, and stiffness too. You might also get corns or calluses, which usually occur due to the friction between the first and the second toes. There would be pain that comes and goes and you will have limited movement of your toe. If they are treated immediately, there are lesser chances for them to grow further.
How can you prevent bunions?
As it can be hereditary, you can keep track of your foot as they develop over time. You can keep exercising to strengthen your foot. Wear a proper size shoe and avoid cramping or pinching your toes. Women should avoid high heels or shoes with pointed toes.
What are the signs of bunion surgery?
- Unbearable Pain: Most of the pain is normal and go away with time. However, when it starts affecting your daily activities like standing, walking, or just strolling around then it is something that you need to take care of. You may not even be able to wear your favorite shoes because of this pain
- Deformity: You may notice that there is some unusual deformity in the foot area, which simply means that the bunions are getting worse. It won’t go away even after taking proper foot care or it’s already severely deforming your foot.
- Not working on conservative treatments: Many of the times you and your podiatrist have tried all the possible alternative treatments for a long time, but there is no improvement at all. The pain is still there and there is a slow progression of the problem.
In all such situations, surgery will be the only option left.
Another option which people would like to consider is shaving a bunion. But this surely cannot be an answer to this problem. Surgery is the correction done to the deformed segment i.e. it corrects the skeletal alignment. On the other hand, shaving can just provide a temporary relief i.e. it does not solve any functional related problems. It does not correct the problem because of which the bunions are formed. So, if the instability in the toe and the foot is still there, then the bunions can form again in a few months or years.
In patients who have significant bunion formation, they would require surgery. For others, correcting that instability of the toe and foot can be enough to solve their problem. The recommendation for this surgery can be done only after a proper examination done by a podiatrist.
If all these problems sound familiar to you then you should visit your podiatrist at the earliest and get your treatment or surgery done. The entire procedure will help you
- Correct the deformity
- Will lower your pain and discomfort
- Help you do your daily activities without any problem.
- Will improve the quality of your life.
Remember it is always better that you bear the pain of the surgery for some time and get yourself relaxed for life than to make yourself suffer from these undesirable pain and discomfort, which will worsen with days.