Post hammertoe surgery recovery

Hello,
I just got the hammertoe surgery three weeks ago. The doctor removed the stitches and pin two days ago... The surgery was not painful at all... I have no regrets of getting it my doctor was great! The cost was $1000 per toe. I got my surgery in Brooklyn, NY by Dr. pace at Manhattan footcare... I dont think I will be able to wear heals for another week or so. I was able to walk the day of my surgery and all throughout... I dont like pain so...Im not over exaggerating :-) If you are planning to get this...theres nothing to worry about. I am a track athlete and I have been cycling and lifting weights for two weeks now. If you have any questions feel free to write back!

How painful was the pin removal procedure?

Is it true that there will be a scar after surgery? I went to the doctor today and he said there will be on. If so how bad is it?

Hi i am just a 17 year old and dealt with pain in both of my 5th toes
i had hammertoe surgery on both of them on July 3 I was asleep during the procedure and everything went great and had pain killers (Vicodin) post-op. The pain for me was uneasy because i'm not good with pain but the pain killers made everything run smoothly. I only needed them for about the first 4 days. It was still very painful to walk (i had no cruches seeing as it was both feet) up to 10 days after it. But after the 10th day i can walk just fine but my toes are still very tender and sore to the touch or if moved the wrong way. I get the stitches out tomorrow and I am too wondering if i will have a scar and how noticeable

Erin 21 wrote:

dorothy215 wrote:

Hi, I am a healthy 44 year old woman who rarely gets sick and heals easily; that is, until my surgery on October 18, 2007. I had surgery on 3 hammertoes, my bunion, and my pinky toe, which needed to be straightened. My doctor does not believe in fusing bones, so the hammertoes were straightened by removing bone, eliminating the corn, and no pins. Thank God my doctor talked me out of getting both feet done at once! The healing process has been long and painful. The bases of my 3 post op hammertoes are fat and hard. It is now almost 3 months later, and all I can wear are loose furry boots and clogs (without a sock on my right foot). My Merrell "Primo Chill Slide" clogs and Earth "Mirage" boots have been a life-saver. I don't know what I would have done during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season without them. I'm sure there are others, but I happened to already have those two in my shoe collection. When I saw my doctor a month ago (I am due to see him again on Monday), he said I am healing nicely and could start wearing my New Balance sneakers. Naturally, that was not to be. I am still unable to wear any type of shoe other than the ones aforementioned. My bunion is not a problem at all, my pinky toe is just tender, but my hammertoes are soooooo swollen. I tried icing, elevating, taking aspirin, homeopathic supplements that contain linoleic acid (evening primrose oil, fish oil, basic essential fatty acids), and nothing seems to be reducing the swelling. Although I read in this forum that the healing could take up to a year, I am concerned the swelling will never go down and my toes permenently went from bird claws to cocktail sausage. Does anyone know if the swelling will eventually subside????

I had bunyon surgery and 3 hammer toes fixed (2nd, 3rd and 4th toes) on May 2nd and had to go back on June 2nd and have a tendon cut by the 2nd toe because the toe was up in the air and not laying straight. I have screws with the bunyon surgery and my big toe is still bent inward (I thought the bunyon surgery would have made the big toe straighten out). The doctor put the pins inside the toes so they stay there and don't get removed. Anyway, it's now over 3 months and my toes still feel weird. The 2nd toe is very rigid and I feel like I have no control over it - it almost feels numb but I don't think it's really numb - it's just a very weird feeling. I'm wearing a sneak now but the toes are sore in the closed sneak. I had the same thing done to my left foot on June 30th, but doc said my left bunyon was worse than the right one and I'm in a cast for 6 to 8 weeks with no weight bearing and this time he put the pins on the outside for the 3 toes. I was able to walk right after the right foot surgery for at least 5 min/hr with the surgical shoe on, but not with the left foot surgery.

As far as the pain goes........I really didn't have much pain at all with the bunyon part of the surgery, but right now I'm having 2nd thuoughts about the hammer toes. I just hope that once the cast comes off this left foot that I don't have any problems with those toes as well. Right now I'm wishing that I only had the bunyons taken care of- I only had the hammer toes done because the doc told me that I'd continue to get corns and calluses if Ididn't have them fixed.

I think my feet problems are hereditary because they certainly aren't from my wearing high heels or pointed shoes because I never wore any of those.

Hi/ I had a bunionectomy/and three hammertoes done 9 weeks ago. I am recovering nicely according to the doctor however I am still very swollen. I wear flip flops, crocs and bought a pair of New Balance sneakers (double E) They feel good. This is the only closed shoe (sneaker) I can get into at this time. Everyone says the swelling takes time and I am also getting impatient. I think the bunionectomy was easy but the hammertoes are the problem. One of my toes looks like a sausage and I can'tg wait until the swelling is down. Sounds like everyone has the same problem and it's good to read about it. Thanks for all your input.

I had hammertoe surgery 15 days ago. Not much pain at the beginning, but the last few days it has been painful and had some sweling and redness. I am on my 2nd antibiotic to get the swelling down.

I can't urge anyone enough - stay off your feet as long as you possibly can and unless you are doing absolutely GREAT - I wouldn't wear binding shoes either.

I believe I tried to go back to work too soon. Don't do it!

Hi I am 31 and not a native speaker so bear my language :-) I just had a so called Hohmann surgery on my second toe. I did not have an ordinary hammertoe I had an accident and my tendoms was toren and me toe boe got dislocated and looked like pretty much a fixed hammertoe. So I had my toe bone partially removed and tendoms fixed. The surgery was fine no real pain apart from the shot in to the toe. I stayed overnight at the hospital. I got bandages and my stiches were removed after 6! days of the surgery It looked ok and the doctor decided to go ahead with it. It was floppy which scared me a bit, he put a bandage to fix the position of the toe and said it would firm up. He said 6 months I should avoid sports. I am 9 days from surgery now and will go back for checking in 2 weeks. No PAIN or whatsoever. I dont know if it is swollen to much or not bcuz of bandage but I dong think when I saw it of course it was different but nothing frightening. I dont walk at all and try to elevate it to help healing no ice btw. My toe got shorter also with around half inches. I hope floppines will go away dont look to good :-).

I had a bunionectomy, hammertoe (2nd and 3rd toe on right foot), and mortons neuroma. I am 1 week post-op. The first day postop was almost unbearable but we released the coban and felt better. However, had an allergic reaction to the Vicoden. Doctor changed the dressing at the visit and switched me to Darvocet. The pain is almost gone when my foot is elevated but I find it very difficult to sleep at night trying to find a comfortable position. When I stand, I can feel slight pain initially but it improves as I walk on the foot. However by the end of the day, my feet are tired. I don't have any significant swelling on the hammertoes but they feel very odd (floppy). I am looking forward to being able to not have the dressing on my foot. I do find walking with my Born clog on my left foot balances the weight perfectly with my protective shoe which helps relieve any pain I feel walking.

I am now healing from a third hammertoe surgery. I have only two feet, thank God, but my first surgery went very badly 4 years ago and I had to have that surgery fixed, by another doctor 3 years ago. Research your Dr very carefully! I too have sausage like toes now on that foot. My doctor told me that it is less a problem of swelling than the hardness that occurs in the skin around the area (has a name I can't remember). On the plus side, my 11 and 1/2 foot is now an 11 and that makes shoe buying much easier! The swelling takes a long time (6 or more months) but because mine was repeated it may have taken longer than others. The other foot was done just 2 days ago and already seems easier. I disagree that the bunion is easier. I think this will heal faster and with less pain because bunion surgery was not needed. You really only need to take it easy for a month, not 6 as someone said. I teach elementary school and have been able to go back after a month at home. I agree that your toes never feel the same again..they don't bend and sometimes feel very weird but what are the options? Scarring was the least of my worries and it has been minimal. My toes don't look like they did when I was 20, but having a big bend in them was not attractive either! I actually might be able to wear a narrow toed shoe again to a wedding someday! Other than that, it's clogs and wide toed shoes and sandles for me when this one heals!

I am a healthy 19 year old female who had hammertoe surgery two weeks ago. I had both feet done, three toes on each feet. I stayed off my feet for three days keeping them elevated (I didn't use ice or heat...just elevation) and I have experienced very little swelling.

My toes haven't been necessarily painful as they have been just sore. I am still required to wear my post op shoes at all times and have gotten pretty good in walking in them! (they are a killer for the back though!) I am allowed to switch to regular flats (I'm thinkin' crocs) in a couple of days!

I would like to say that the stiches can become somewhat painful! If you are on your feet for a while and your toes swell, the stiches pull and it's a killer. (I found that out after one day of being on my feet...needless to say, I wasn't on my feet much till the stiches came out.) Now that the stiches are out there is very little pain...just soreness.

Doctors visits make your toes quite sore...most likely you will not be handling your toes (moving them around) alot right away so when the doctor does so to check them out...they are definitely sore for the rest of the day.

I am in college and return in a week for a regular schedule of classes. The doctor said that I should be fine by then but I will want to wear comfortable flats for quite a while. All in all I am looking at a three week immediate recovery and about six week long term recovery.

I have a question for you guys, I have been nosy with my toes and so I have been checking them everyday to make sure that the incision is closing up...one of my toes has what looks like a piece of bandage sticking out of the incision. I tried to pull on it but it wont come out (at least not easily)...tonight I worked on it some more and found that two of the pieces were ends of a mini rope and with a little bit of proding and tugging came out as a piece that look like it had been twisted around something. I wasn't sure if they use string to wrap around the bones or pins or something...gotta admitt, Im a little nervous that I pulled something out that shouldn't have been pulled...hmm...I wont be able to get to the doctors for a couple of days (it being the holidays and all) I was just wondering if anybody had any thoughts...

Merry Christmas all!

i had3 toes on my right foot oprated on 31st october 2008.The pain after the op wasn't that bad.Ihad the stitches out after 2 weeks ahd the pins out at 6weeks and went back to work I thought great I can wear proper shoes.The doc said the swelling should settle.Its now 10 weeks after op still cant find a normal shoe because of swelling .Ihave also been put back on sick brcause of this. Im also struggling to put my foot flat on floor and im walking on the side of foot which is making swelling worse and my ankle sore I also find it unbearable to walk bear foot.HAS ANYBODY ELSE HAD THIS PROBLEM.At the moment wishing Ihad never had it done.Hope doc as some answears when see him next week.My toes are solid and have no movement.

I had surgery on both feet Oct. 9, 2008. Both feet had Morton's Neuroma and right foot had the hammer toe on second toe. Left foot second toe had arthritis in joints. I told the doctor I wanted him to fix them all at one time. Husband has ALS (Lou Gehrigs disease) and I needed my feet fixed so I could take care of him.

Came on this site to see how other people are doing with their surgery, and glad to see it's not my age that's keeping these feet from swelling up so bad. I am 66 and very active and this has sure slowed me down.

Doctor prescribed me some Voltaren Gel that I put on toes 4-6 times a day. That has helped take the redness out of the toes and calm them down some. I can feel them when they swell really bad, then redness comes back and I take two pillows and sit down on couch with feet elevated on couch pillow and bed pillow. If I'd sit all day, feet don't hurt. When I am up on them for 2 hours or so, they give me fits.

Both second toes are swelled and lift up in the air. Does anyone elses toes do that. Doctor said when swelling goes down, toes will too.

I had surgery to remove a bunion and correct two hammer toes on 11 November 2008. I was in a cast and non weight bearing for 6 weeks but doing really well with crutches and little pain. I had the pins removed on 23 December and was told I could start to put some weight on my foot but was given no advice about exercises.

I have found it almost impossible to put weight on my foot because of pain by my big toe but most of all because of severe pain from one of the toes. I have found myself a physiotherapist and he is working to get my toes moving. They do nothing. The pain in the toe is now unbearable and I am despairing.

He said he can get me walking again in time without a limp but I will have to learn how to do it because I will probably never get movement back in my toes.

My foot is so swollen I cannot wear anything apart from velcro sandals.
I am depressed and miserable and wish I had never had it done.
I was doing so well before and now I feel I am at a dead end. There is no way I can go on with this kind of pain. He indicated it was the type of surgery carried out that is most likely to blame. I now ask the question, is there anything that can be done to correct it.

Jojo

I had hammertoe surgery on my left foot 5th baby toe. I guess that I am on my foot trying to support my weight on the ball of my foot, walking around too much or wrapping my feet too tight. I keep waking up at night in severe pain in the ball of my foot. It has been over three weeks and I need to go back to work. My doctor would not let me travel. This morning I could not walk! when I woke up I was in so much pain. I am temped to go to the ER. I keep taking Naproxin to keep the swelling and pain at bay.