Treatment and Recovery Time for Minor Bunion Surgery

“Hi, this is Dr. Silvester and I’m going to talk to you a little bit today about fixing a moderate bunion deformity – a bunion deformity that’s not too severe. We usually see these on girls, because most of the time it’s women who suffer from bunions, not men. Largely because men can wear wide, sloppy shoes and we’re generally just trying to get around, while women are trying to wear more dressy shoes and are a little more conscientious about how they look.

Moderate bunion deformities generally occur in patients who are younger – 20-50 years old. They’re not too difficult to address. There are certain procedures that can be done successfully that allow you to bear weight fairly quickly after you’ve had a moderate bunion fixed. This allows you to go on with your life and experience a foot that functions more normally.

A lot of people ask me if those bunions can come back. My response to that is that if they do, then in general what’s happened is that something’s been overlooked. Either the stability of the first metatarsal, the severity of the deformity, or the patient wanting to push the envelope – sometimes we let the patient dictate what kind of procedure they want, and pushing the envelope as far as the requirements for the surgery can cause some degree of recurrence. In general, the vast majority of people do not get their bunions back.

As far as recovery goes, usually it’s about two weeks of lying around, keeping your foot up. A lot of people take medication for pain; very many people also don’t take medication for pain. It depends on how their response to the surgery is and how much swelling they have. As far as getting back in their shoes, usually it’s about 3 – 5 weeks before you get back into a loose tennis shoe, and 3-4 months before you get back into a dress shoe.

That answers most of the questions that revolve around having a moderate bunion fixed. If you have any questions, please give us a call at the Next Step Foot and Ankle Clinic, and we can help you out. Thank you!”