Can Bunion Surgery Be Pain Free?

When anyone has suffered from painful bunions and starts to think about bunion surgery, they always ask me...is bunion surgery painful? Bunion surgery does not have to be painful. With the obvious disclaimer that any surgery certainly can be painful, it does not have to be. There are many techniques the properly trained and skilled foot surgeon can use to ensure that you have as little discomfort as possible related to your bunion correction surgery.

First, make sure your bunion surgeon will provide local anesthesia before your surgery starts. This is important because making the foot completely numb before the procedure starts will help to ensure that you do not experience the “anesthesia awareness” that has recently been reported on it the news. This is the situation where someone might be unconscious for the surgery, but still actually feel pain. If your foot is numb because it has been made numb with local anesthetics before the procedure begins, this can prevent that otherwise rare occurrence. In addition, make sure that your surgeon utilizes (so you will benefit from) all of the latest developments in post-operative pain reduction.

For example, while in Surgical Residency, I worked on research related to a simple, effective, low-cost method of reducing pain following bunion surgery. In that study, 95.92% of bunion surgery patients reported taking less pain medicine and believed that there pain much less than had the “pain pump” not been placed in the surgical site and used in their foot surgery cases. I published the secrets on this technique in a medical journal called Ambulatory Surgery in order to teach other foot surgeons how to make bunion surgery a better experience for their patients.

You should also make sure that you have access to other postoperative pain reducing techniques such as cryotherapy. This is a very simple device that circulates temperature controlled cooling through a special pad incorporated into the dressings applied at the time of surgery. By continually icing and cooling the surgical site for first couple of days after surgery, patients have less pain, less swelling, and recover faster.

Post-operative pain is not just an unpleasant annoyance, but it is also generally unhealthy. Pain can actually impede wound healing and stall your recovery. For these reasons, your foot surgeon should use every single available effective method to make sure that your bunion surgery goes smoothly and with as little discomfort as possible.

Your feet are critically important to your ability to enjoy everything from walks on the beach to dancing at the charity ball. You should only expect the very best performance from your surgeon when considering corrective foot surgery. It is important to not only imagine what your life would be like without the pain from bunions, but also to think about how simple bunion surgery could be if you chose a surgeon who would help ensure the fastest most comfortable surgery possible.

Dr. Christopher Segler is an award winning foot and ankle surgeon with a podiatry practice in Chattanooga. He is the inventor of a patented surgical instrument designed to simplify bunion surgery and flatfoot surgery. He publishes articles teaching other surgeons about his techniques and how to decrease pain after foot surgery. You can order a FREE copy of his informative book about common causes of foot pain at http://www.anklecenter.com.