Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Foot Surgery

Doctors recommend foot surgery for a variety of reasons. They may wish to correct a malformed bone or to correct problems caused by pressure on the feet like bunions or serious corns. Some foot surgery can be very serious, while others are out-patient or can even be conducted in a doctor's office rather than at a hospital. Before you have foot surgery, make sure that you are prepared for the effects and healing processes involved in the surgery.


Function








Foot surgery is nearly always corrective. It can make the feet easier to walk on and shoes less painful to wear. Foot surgery can change people's lives if they have been suffering from pain while walking or wearing shoes. These surgeries are generally fairly easy to recover from, but you do have to be careful while you are healing not to get too far ahead of yourself and hurt the tender areas of your foot.


Effects


Foot surgeries can temporarily remove bunions, corns and callouses. They can also make walking easier and enable you to wear shoes that were previously not an option. They can even correct ingrown toenails and bones spurs.


Types


Foot surgeries come in many varieties. Most of them of fairly simple. Bone spur surgery smooths out bones and corrective bunion surgeries straighten out and realign toes that have swollen joints due to unusual pressure on the sides of the foot. Foot surgery can also help straighten hammertoes, which are toes that are permanently bent due to tightened ligaments.


Considerations


When you are considering foot surgery, make sure that you take all the necessary steps to prepare for the event. Most of them have to do with making sure that you are healthy for the surgery. You may need to have an EKG or blood and urine screenings to make sure that your heart is healthy for the surgery and you are not at risk for any secondary infections. If you have a fever the week before the surgery, then make sure that notify your doctor is aware before you have your operation.


Time Frame


Once you have foot surgery, your recovery time will depend largely on the type of surgery that you had as well as your previous levels of activity. Generally, surgery for bunions and corns can take just a week or two to heal as long as you stay off your feet and make sure that you keep your dressings clean and dry. For surgeries involving the bones or that restructure your foot, your healing time can range from several weeks to several months, and you may need to do rehab to get fully back to normal.


Warning


Once you have had foot surgery, you need to keep a close eye on your dressings and foot to make sure that you do not get an infection or otherwise complicate the healing process. If your dressing becomes tight or your foot becomes cold or numb, contact your doctor immediately. Persistent pain beyond what your doctor described or wet dressings are other reasons to contact your surgeon.

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