Options for Hammertoes
Toes need to stay in their own lane for optimal function. Overtime, toes can change in appearance and look crooked, crossed over or hammered compromising balance and make wearing shoes painful or difficult. A hammertoe is when the toe cocks up at the joint making the toe look like a hammer. There are variations such as mallet toe and cross over toe.
What can be done for hammertoes?
In the early stages, wearing shoes that don’t cramp the toes are very helpful. There should be at least a finger’s width between the longest toe and the end of the shoe. Toes should move freely inside shoes. However, shoes that are too big can cause other problems like callusing and blisters, so there is a fine balance with proper fitted shoes.
Foot exercises are helpful in mobility and I’ve notice those who do yoga have great toe flexibility and strength, while those who wear high heels and narrow shoes had the most severe deformity.
In other cases, medical conditions take over and cause hammertoe deformities such as arthritis, diabetes and neuropathy to name a few. Diabetes in particular is known to cause tendon tightness, which affects the tendons in the leg and foot. When tendons are imbalanced, whether by medical condition or with aging, hammertoes can form. So managing your health benefits you from your head to your toes.
For more advanced deformities that affect balance, cause pain or creates new problems like blisters, corns or foot ulcers, surgery is the only way to realign crooked toes in the later stages.
Traditional vs. Minimally Invasive Surgery
The traditional way in surgically treating hammertoes or other toe deformities includes a long incision, pins or implants, and fusing the joint. While this technique is still widely used, there were some issues that I wanted to overcome so have advanced into a minimally invasive technique (MIS), such as:
stiffness due to joint fusion
scar pain due to the long incision
higher risk of infection with pins or implants
more inflammation with larger dissection & foreign material (pins, implants, sutures)
longer recovery time
costly involving expenses of a surgery center/hospital and anesthesia
MIS offer great benefits in correcting hammertoes or other toe deformity, such as:
less pain with smaller incisions (poke hole), no sutures usually needed
joint is not compromised minimizing swelling, thus pain
no pins or implants, reducing inflammation & risks of infection
an invisible scar
quick recovery time
can be performed in our office surgical suite under local anesthesia, saving time and money compared to the costs associated with hospital surgery
I now perform hammertoe surgery exclusively with the MIS method. Patients are seeing they need less pain killers and can be on their feet faster wearing their sensible shoes sooner.
To see if you’re a candidate for MIS hammertoe surgery, request a consultation to learn more.
