No Scar / Painless Bunion Surgery

Do you have bunion pain? Is the pain severe enough that it limits you with your daily activities and affects the quality of your life? Have you done every bit of conservative treatments like using special shoes, custom made orthotics, bunion splints, physical therapy, exercise and many more but the pain still persists? Then this is a good time to consider bunion surgery.

Minimally Invasive Bunion Surgery

Minimally invasive bunion surgery or no scar bunion surgery is a new technique that has a high success rate for treating bunions. This is the preferred procedure today because it involves very minimal pain and little to no swelling, recovery time is very short . It is more accepted aesthetically because it i a very small incision, leaving a hardly noticeable scar.   

What to Expect During and After Surgery

Minimally invasive bunion surgery requires only a small incision about 5mm in length around the neck of the first metatarsal bone. Then the bone is cut using a bone chisel and hammer, the surgeon is actually breaking the bone. This is the preferred method because it is actually less traumatic and the bone is cut cleanly compared to using a bone saw which produces a lot of bone debris and heat which can damage the bone cells and delay healing. Next, the bones are aligned with the use of live x-ray and are pinned in place. The pin is left there for 4 weeks before it is removed to immobilize the loose bone until it heals and reattaches. The whole procedure is done in 15 to 20 minutes under local nerve block and the anesthesia can last for about 24 hours. Minimally invasive surgery is an OPD basis and the patient can go home the same day after surgery.

After surgery, since the minimally invasive technique requires very little manipulation and trauma, pain  is very minimal to nonexistent.  If in case there is pain, this is easily alleviated with oral pain medications. Most patients don’t need pain medications after 3 days post-operatively.

Outcome of Minimally Invasive Bunion Surgery

Some patients can walk on their heels a day after surgery. Mobilization is recommended for faster bone and wound healing. Patients can walk on their heels for the first week and then a surgical boots is used the following week to allow the bone to heal.