Post hammertoe surgery recovery

I had my hammertoe surgery about 3 weeks ago and had absolutely no pain after the first 2 or 3 days...and it wasn't bad then. I haven't worn heels yet, but had the same surgery a few years ago and wore heels until this surgery! You should be fine!

I had 2nd toe shortening surgery due to Morton's toe. Just shortening the toe WONT take the pressure off the 2nd metatarsal head. Make SURE your podiatrist gives you a Morton's extension in your orthotic, under the 1st meta. head. That will take the pressure off the 2nd head, as the Morton's extension will fill in the space "up" to your 1st meta head from the floor, and 1st meta head will then bear your weight like it should. Otherwise you will still walk on 2nd head, even though he fused mid joint of 2nd toe. Trust me on this one, been thru 2 surgeries in 3 years. Ask you doctor about Morton's extension pad on your orthotic. Been 10 months since last surgery....shortening/fusing 2nd toe/Morton's extension.... and things are finally starting to feel better.

I had surgery to fix pain in my second metarsal on July 11, 2012. The podiatrist decided to put a pin in my second toe as a preventative measure. Four months later I am in constant pain because of the toe. It's still very swollen. It aches or throbs, sometimes aching and throbbing, every waking hour. The pain is so intense that I can hardly walk. I am icing and elevating on a regular basis. Dr. says to give it another 6 months, 10 months after original surgery. If I am still in so much pain he will remove the pin. Then what? I was very hesitant to have this surgery because I was afraid I would come out worse than when I went in. My worst fears were realized. My metarsal was very painful when I walked but it didn't hurt all the time. Now I have constant, unremmiting pain. Never again.

According to my doctor and the nurses, as long as I have not done any walking or weight bearing or driving, the pins should not be bent and come out with little pain (they recommend taking a pin pill before you come for the removal, just in case). From what they say it is only when the pins have gotten bent even a bit that extreme pain is involved in pin removal. You can ask them to numb your foot if you think the pins are bent or if you are worried about the pain. I have been non weight bearing for over 3 weeks and the pins come out in 5 days. I took some spills so I am hoping beyond hope none of the three pins were bent. I am very surprised at the number of physicians that let their patients resume walking and such, even with the surgical shoe, with the pins in place. From what my doctor says, even with the surgical shoe, it ridiculously easy to bend those pins with any weight bearing. I highly suggest to anyone that has this surgery to RENT A KNEE WALKER/SCOOTER FOR USE UNTIL YOUR PINS COME OUT! It helped a ton! So much easier than crutches.

wow!!!! this is some new news to me. my doctor advised me to walk. now I'm trying to wear some shoes. sometimes I put my surgical shoe back on because it's still swells like crazy. the bottom of my foot is very tender and painful at times.

I just had both feet done in July......neither foot worked....so now I just had one foot done last week (a different Dr)....it is a long process and I don't see wearing high heeled or even fashion shoes for at least four months.....tomorrow I get off the knee roller and will get a boot to walk on...the first Dr had me walking right from the beginning...you can write me if you want to.....

I had Hammer toe surgery 8 weeks ago. All four toes on my left foot, recovery was not that bad. BUT I'm now able to wear shoes and the toe that was the worst will not lie down after alll the surgery it still sticks up in the air above all the other toes. Doctor said to tape it down, I have and it still sticks up. Im so afraid that the surgery was a waste of time and pain. Does anyone out there had or have the same problem.

You can buy a cast protector from Walgreens they are about $30 and use that to shower, but still try not to get the top wet. Worked great for me.

I had hammertoe surgery on November 9th, just over 3 weeks ago, and it's been a great experience for me so far.  I got the surgery done on a Friday, and only had to take Monday off work.  I was back in the office on Tuesday!  No narcotics, just a strong anti-inflammatory for a week.

I used crutches the first 4 days, but then was fine walking with just the surgical shoe.  After 10 days, Dr. Curran removed my sutures and the pin (they took out a lot of bone so the pin was to stabilize it).  Taking out the sutures and pin did NOT hurt, although I fully expected it to.  I just felt a little pressure and that was it!  Then, he told me not to wear regular shoes until my follow up appt 2 weeks after that.  

So since my 10 day appt, I have been walking around the house in just socks with no pain whatsoever.  I wear the boot whenever I go out in public or to work.  I attempted to put on some flat comfy shoes this weekend but that REALLY hurt.  Which is wierd since I have absolutely no pain walking barefoot or with the shoe.  I mean I can run around and even go on my tip toes!  It must be because of the swelling and the raw skin where the incision is.  I have my 2 week follow up appt tomorrow so we'll see what the deal is.

If you need any doctor recommendations, Dr. Timothy Curran at Tufts Medical Center is WONDERFUL!  I can't believe I'm standing on my tiptoes with no pain 3 weeks after hammertoe surgery. 

I recently had left foot hammertoe surgery on 4 toes and my tailors bunion removed by the breaking on the fifth toe bone that was reset by screws. I had this surgery done on October 31, 2012 and 5 1/2 weeks later I'm starting to gave movement back into the toes, but only in an up and down motion (no flexibility). My doctor's recommendation is to stay in the boot for 6 weeks but this past week I started taking it off and walking around my apartment to get used to the feeling again. I only did this because I know my body and I know what I can and cannot handle. One thing I'd suggest to EVERYONE on this strand: cut out coffee, caffeine and smoking. I was given that advice by my GP when I was getting a physical done for this surgery. As much as it sucks giving up those three vices (only two for me), I feel as though the healing process has been expedited drastically. I've gained full motion back in my ankle and big toe (even though they weren't affected) and have been able to walk very slowly with zero pain. The swelling on the other hand is a different story. Holy zombie foot after a day of work and school at night. However, after elevating and icing at night every night since the surgery, they look 90% normal minus the minor scabbing and scarring that exists. I'm getting my other foot operated on in less than a month so I took no chances with the cutting back on the wine, beer and coffee. Even though I had a withdrawal week from the coffee, not only did I feel better before going into the surgery, but I feel SO much better after the fact. The lack of alcohol has actually helped me lose a few pounds when, at first, I was worried I'd gain some due to the sedentary lifestyle that these surgeries lead to. I even got back on my motorcycle last night and took it for a jaunt around the block to see how my ankle was doing since it's just shifting gears with your left foot. Obviously that wasn't the greatest idea but surprisingly enough, my foot fared just fine. So if you can get over the zombie-esque look of your foot, the occasional swelling and the 1-2 weeks of crutches (I recommend these wholeheartedly), then the surgery isn't so bad. I did order a special boot online that is a few steps up from the kind they give you in the office. Paying for it out of pocket is a b***h but I couldn't imagine my foot in any other boot. It's the Trio Aircast on Amazon. It gives toe protection and has a hard support you can add onto it that stabilizes and protects your foot from any mishaps. Oh, just don't stub your toes. That feels like death.

Hi. I'm a 46 year old female and had hammertoe surgery on toes 2, 3, 4, and 5 on my left foot in mid August 2012. It was initially very painful and I used crutches for the first couple of weeks. The wires came out after 6 weeks and it was immediately obvious that toe number 2 was sticking up in the air and not touching the ground. Apparently this is called a 'floating toe' and is quite common following hammer toe surgery (so I found out later when I looked on the internet). Toe number 3 felt completely dead and numb straight after surgery and I thought the surgeon had cut a nerve. It is very slowly improving but is very 'wiggly' and I don't think the bone has knitted back together. It is incredibly painful and I can't stand any pressure on it at all.Toes 4 and 5 look fine but are still excruciatingly painful if they are bumped or pushed up from below.

So, 4.5 months after surgery I'm still wearing sandals that velcro at the front and back as this is all I can get into. I can't wear any enclosed footwear at all and couldn't contemplate high heels. I limp heavily when I walk as it hurts a lot at the very end of each step when a lot of weight goes onto my sore toe, and I can't walk very far without my foot/leg getting very tired. I have to go back to the surgeon in Feb so will have to hobble around until then and see what he says. When I last saw him for a checkup he didn't look particularly interested. I believe floating toes can only be repaired surgically so I think I'll need more surgery to fix that toe. Goodness knows what the answer is to my third, extremely painful, toe will be.

I still have hope that things will improve but it has been far more painful and taken so much longer to heal than I expected. My surgeon failed to explain adequately beforehand what was likely to happen so I was quite unprepared for things like having to keep my foot elevated for 23 out of every 24 hours for the first 2 weeks, then having to keep it elevated for 22 hours a day for the next 4 weeks. Having a job with 3 kids to look after means this is impossible.

Good luck with your surgery - I hope it goes better than mine. I still hope it will be worth it in the long term. But, it's not an 'easy fix' and I wish you all the best with wearing high heels in the short term!

Sorry to hear about all your pain and wish you the best of luck. Also sorry to say that I am 53 years old and no what you are going through being all I had was two toe corns on my right foot went to this doctor which after saying all looks good suggested hammertoe surgery in October 2010. Here I am two years later with more pain than ever I want to cry being that I love to exercise play ball with my grandkids, now I go to the gym ever though I am still in pain DO NOT always feel like playing ball with the kids anymore (IT'S TERRIBLE!!). I will be seeing a third doctor in two weeks just to see what he can suggest to eliminate this pain.

I think I know how you feel. I had my hammer toe surgery in June of 2011. I am just now beginning to wear closed in shoes. I have had to wear nothing but flip flops for the last year and a half. I used to go to the gym three days a week. But had to give that up as I couldn't wear any shoes. It's a good thing that I live in Florida and not up north in the cold weather. I sure am glad that I only had surgery on one toe. I still had pain after the surgery so then the doctor removed the nail on that toe. Then she said that killing the root of the nail would probably stop the pain. That was all back in 2011. Nothing helped. Just time has made it slowly feel better. It still is not back to normal but finally is a lot better after all this time.

Good luck with seeing your third doctor.

I had this surgery four weeks ago for the second time. First operation went wrong and toe was worse than ever. repeat surgery appears successful. This was done under general anaesthetic. I have a metal pin inserted in toe, which is not uncomfortable. It will be removed end of the month. Last pin to be removed last year was most painful part of treatment. took 4 months for foot swelling to reduce and 6 months before I could wear high heels again. Although long lastsing, recovery certainly isn't painful, unless, like me, it goes wrong. go for it, I am cfonfident all will be well with my foot by sunmmer.

Hi I just had hammertoe surgery last Friday and I have not been able to return to school or work and have to get around on crutches. I have been reading all the horror stories and they concern me. I see that you did not have the pin inserted in your toes and neither did I. Most of the people writing about bad experiences had the pin in their toes. I had some bone removed and now I am wearing a post op boot, bandages and it also feels hard like there is a splint. I walked out after surgery because he put a local anesthetic while I was under general anesthesia but the next day when it wore off the pain was EXCRUCIATING!! I threw up from vicodin so just had to deal with no pain meds. I still have a little pain in the mornings when I wake up and first get up but it is minimal and bearable after. I go to have my bandages changed tomorrow and I can see and know the status of my foot. I just want to know how your recovery has been since you did not have the pins either. I feel like it can't be too bad since I hardly feel pain without meds and not being able to walk after 6 days should be normal. I also don't smoke and have good health. They did an entire physical and EKG before allowing surgery.