Elective Podiatric Surgery

ABC News recently ran a feature story talking about plastic surgery for feet. Plastic surgery is defined as any surgery that is unnecessary for the person’s health. These surgeries are instead performed solely to affect the appearance of a certain part of the body. In podiatry there are several cosmetic surgeries that are regularly performed. These are surgeries for bunions, hammer toes and claw toes. Podiatrists perform these types of surgeries on a daily basis throughout the country. The majority of these cases are done when the patient is having pain associated with their deformity. Over the past several years though, more and more of these surgeries are being done for appearance. Recently, procedures to shorten the length of your toes have become increasingly popular as well.

Recently there has been a fashion shift in shoe wear leading to more sandals, flip flops, and open toe shoes. With this trend, women especially, have become more conscientious about the appearance of their feet. They have a tendency to look at their feet and see these deformities that have been gradually getting worse throughout their lifetime, and they don’t like what they see. When this happens, they are prone to ask the question, “Can this be fixed?”  The truth of the matter is that yes these can be fixed and they are on a daily basis for those painful ones that have failed conservative therapy. The reality is that the decision to do cosmetic foot surgery is really a personal decision of the physician. Many physicians operate by the rule of thumb that if it is not causing you any kind of problem, then why would they cut you open and risk infection and a problem coming from something that was healthy. Other physicians think of it as preventative medicine because they believe that the deformity will only get worse and they are fixing it before it becomes a problem. Which thinking is right? Well there really isn’t a good answer for that because both of these scenarios have pros and cons. However, if the trend of open toed footwear continues, chances are that you will see much more of this surgery in the next several years.

If you or someone that you know is experiencing any type of foot related problems, our office staff would be more than happy to make an appointment for you. Our offices serve Tewksbury, Methuen, North Andover and Lowell, Massachusetts and the surrounding areas.