Post hammertoe surgery recovery

I had my hammertoe surgery Nov. 17th 2009...and as of today March 14th 2010 still have swelling and alot of pain. Some days i wish i never had the surgery. After surgery i have had so mych stabbing pain at times it brought tears to my eyes. If i knew the pain of this surgery i would of never had the surgery. Or perphaps have the doctor who did it not do it. He claims he needed to straighten my little toe well now it is turning outward so much I can not even clip that nail. After i had the doctor do my surgery then i hear all the horror stories of what he has done to other peoples feet/toes.
So I continue to ice and soak my foot hoping some day all this will just me a painful memory.
Has anyone ever have a wire wrapped around their toe from the surgery. Yeah so where the wire was it cut into my skin which made it more painful as the toe swelled up the wire cut into the toe...I think i had a butcher of a doctor...like i said 4 months out and still in alot of pain....this is crazy!!

Hi! I was 45 yrs old when I had my first "hammertoe surgery". First of all...relax! It is a simple procedure that only takes 90n min's. Yes, when you wake up there will be a pin in your foot. I accidentally pulled my pin out 1 week after surgery. I didn't feel a thing!

I called the doctor and he splinted it. After surgery, go home! You will still feel groggy from the anesthetic. You must keep your foot up for at least 2-3 days. No walking on it!! Get a knee-chair if you have to get up for a short time! After that, you can start gradually putting it softly and gently on the floor but just to let the blood flow back down. This will feel good! Doctor gave me 10 days of pain killers. I only needed 3, and don't think I needed that...but took them, just in case...So now, go get those toes fixed! Then paint! Have fun and a speedy recovery!!

I'LL HAVE MY HAMMERTOE OPERATOIN MAY 6. 2010 AND FROM WHAT I HAVE READ, I'M SCARED sh*tless. SOME PEOPLE RESPOND REALLY WELL AND OTHERS DONT. I HATE PAIN. I NEED SOME ENCOURAGEMENT BEFORE I GO INTO THIS. MY DOC SAYS TWO WEEKS AFTER MY 1ST SURGERY I WILL HAVE MY 2ND OPERATION. PINS IN MY TOES,...DARN IT


HAVE


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I am 68 years old. I had all the toes on my right foot, 2 toes on my left foot straightened and two terrible bunions removed about 12 years ago. I recovered quite well from that surgery.

I had the remaioning hammertoes numbers 2 and 3 on my left foot surgically fixed 5 weeks ago. The doctor took the pins out a few days ago. Since then, my toes have swollen a lot. At the doctor's instruction I have not walked any more than necessary and I keep the foot elevated. The swelling has gone down considerably. I recommend staying off of the foot as much as possible and keeping the foot up to keep the swelling under control. Apparently, the toes went through shock at the removal of the pins and reacted with swelling. Each day since, they have swelled less.

I must say that age does play a factor in the length of time required for recovery. Though my healing has expedited, the swelling has been the problem. Still, all in all, I am thrilled to have all my toes fixed and my feet in proper usable order,even if it does take a bit longer to be fully functional. I will wear the special shoe for another month or so and then on to a proper, well supporting shoe. My feet are important to me and I want to make sure they are completely healed before wearing any kind of "dress" shoe that would jeopardize them.

I plan to never have foot surgery again!!

I had my surgery yesterday May 7, 2010. I had left foot (toes 2, 3, 4, and 5 done with pins. pinky toe didnt need a pin so bone was removed and stiched) So far,so good. Still no pain. I was scared because of all the horror stories as well as I know 2 people that got it done last week. I keep my foot elevated with ice. The numbness has worn off for the most part.

Hi my name is Debbie I'm 53 years old and am in excellent shape except for my feet. I had hammer toe surgery a little over 8 months ago on my second and third toe. I'm still suffering from pain and swelling and am a little scared now thinking my surgery did not work. The doctors says I need to give it a year, but to be honest with you I haven't seen much improvement. I see the doctor again in another month, I'm not sure if there is anything they can do. I'm really getting scared. I had to do the surgery because I couldn't live with the pain before the surgery, but the pain I'm experiencing now is far worse. It sucks not having your feet. I'm pretty active, I used to be able to run, I can't seem to get past 20 minutes on my ellipitical. House work and chores seem to be a real chore. I'm to healthy to be like this and it's really bringing me down. Make sure you get a lot of advise and the best doctor you can find. My outcome may be totally different from what yours will be best of luck to you do your homework. P.S. Let me know if you find out any answers I'd love to know if theirs help out there. Debbie

Hello everyone. Here's my experience. However, before I begin, I would like to say its wonderful to hear those who had no complications after their surgery. But I am a heallthy 48 years old who never had any sort of surgery other than having my children. Hopefully this is my last surgery that I will ever have to face. I had the right & left 5th toe done along with a right bunion operated on last April. I was able to walk out of the surgery center without a wheelchair to escort me to my car. The night of the surgery, I remember crying out "What have I done "The bunion & left toe was healed w/o any complications. My biggest problem was trying to keep both feet from getting wet. As my bones was going through the healing process, I constantly remember what my doctor told me, just because it appears to be healed on the outside just remember the bones are going through a healing process also. Okay! Of all things, i began experiencing pain in the right toe in October. At first I just thought that this toe is taking a little longer to heal since i've had two toes done at once on this foot. The pain in the toe continued to become sharper. My toe would actual hurt at the touch of my sheets at night. Finally before Thanksgiving I went back to my physician. For some unforeseen reason this bone had a mind of its own and wanted to begin growing back 7 months later. Oh my goodness! Instead of growing straight, it was growing upward. Nevertheless, after Thanksgiving I was putting this toe through another surgery. Yes re-opening up this toe that had really just healed on the outer part. This time I wasn't put to sleep. After receiving locals on each side of the toe, the surgery began. Being able to see my little toe put through this and not having the left side of the toe totally numb causes me to feel every left stitch that was being made. I regretted every bit of me going to the doctor complaining about the corn on my right toe. Here it is August 2010, almost nine months later and I still can't comfortably wear a closed in shoe, tennis shoe. Since the weather is about to change and I in desparate needs to get back in my boots, shoes, etc..,I been soaking with epsom salt, rubbing oitments for joint aches on a daily basis. By the way, I did go back to the doctor in May to have this toe x-rayed and everything was normal and he said that I may just have to get a coritisone injection for the swelliness. Oh No!!! no more needles in the the feet. Do anybody have any suggestions other then me going through any more nightmares. Lastly, anyone who's thinking about toe surgery, please think about it LONG & HARD. As the other writer suggested IF IT IS NOT BROKEN DON'T FIX IT. Again, I'm opened for any home remedies for the swelliness. I can take and understand the soreness of the bone (The bone is sore because it's been tampered with not once but twice.

Hello, I had hammertoe surgery 5.5 weeks ago. At three weeks in the recovery process, the toe became infected, I had been keeping it bandaged properly and taking great care of it post surgery. However, I also had to fly on business and be on my feet for three days . There has been a great deal of swelling for a large part of the time and ice has worked only temporarily. I was placed on antibiotics at this point and put into a new type of bandaging system to wick off any of the oozing and moisture from the infection while keeping it covered. I had been in the post surgical shoe until this trip, at this trip I switched to a flip flop type shoe, as I could not have any rubbing or chaffing to the top of the toe. It is still extremely swolen. I am still not at the point where I would say it was a worthwhile surgery, it still is very painful, a great deal of swelling, I cannot wear anything but a flip flop and the foot and toe are still very swollen. Don't have the benefit of it feeling any better than before the surgery at this point. I am very worried about this toe, as I thought it was going to be done deal, no problem, now I wonder if the toe will just not accept the implant. At 5.5 weeks a small amount is still healing from the infection, so bandaging is still required. Don't think I would do this again, at this point, I would have to learn to live with it. My job requires a great deal of standing, so I thought I would fix this problem easily. NO
WAY!!

I am considering this surgery for my second toe of right foot (next to great toe). I am very nervous about it because I am athletic and have a three year old and want many more years of running around with him. I figure the best time to have the surgery will be after the snow, around march. My main worry is activity. I want to keep running around. Any similar experiences?

hello all. i am a healthy (thank GOD) 54 yr old woman and 10 & 11 years ago i had a bunion/hammertoe surgery. (a year apart per foot) anyway, now the other toes not operated on need surgery. long story short, just had bunionectomy, 3 middle hammertoes fused and baby toe re-aligned. i have done everything the doc told me to do and yet now 2 weeks later, the swelling remains. i understand this takes time but i have iced & elevated and it's stil swollen. must get back to work so very concerned. help! when will the swelling go away????

What you Perceive as swelling is most likely "induration" which is scar tissue inside your toes rather than fluid swelling. This scar tissue normally take six to twelve months to go away after any surgery. There is no reason you can't walk or wear shoes while the induration goes down. The only limiting factor is if you have significant pain or can not fit in any shoes. You may have to temporarily wear a larger or less desirable style of shoe for a short time.
Dr. Lawrence Silverberg
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I had hammertoe surgery in BOTH of my 5th toes (baby toes) about 3 weeks ago. I'm in college and play sports daily, so I didn't have time to have separate surgeries with the combined recovery time. The few days after surgery were a bit rough, seeing as I couldn't baby one of my feet since they were both operated on. It was tough navigating snow in surgical boots with plastic bags to keep my stitches from getting wet, but I got used to it. My stitches were taken out about 12 days after surgery, and now I keep the toes wrapped with gauze and such every day. My healing process is going great. I have began to go back to the gym with loose sneakers on to do simple weight lifting or the bike occasionally. I was going stir crazy sitting at home all day unable to drive! I go back to the doctor next week for a final update, but all seems to be going as planned. I saw someone else mentioned that their toe was floppy, and reading this made me so relieved! I thought I had permanent damage or something in my toes, but the tendons just need time to recover I guess. Everyones' recovery time seems to be different, but mine has been smooth and quick. I cannot complain. If you are debating getting both feet done at once, I recommend it. You're going to be limping anyways, might as well get 'em both done at once! Be patient with your healing and don't push yourself too far, it'll only set your recovery back. Good luck! :-D

Hey, I wanted to share my expirence too.
I had surgery on both feet- all toes except the big one- 8 toes! They fused my joints and i had pins in all 8. I also had 2 tendence streched.
I decided to do both feet because everyone told me this will be so painful and I should just be done with it.
I must say- recovery was NOT painful! first few days were hard, but lots of pain killers got me through, after 5 days I was ready to start moving, but my Doctor wanted me to stay off my feet as much as I can, so I was on bed rest most of the time.
I used a wheel chair at first, and after 3 weeks started using a walker.
Looking back i would have done one at a time, just because it is really not painful, and the hardest part about recovery was to stay of my feet. I hated it, and after 3 weeks was so depressed. I went back to work on week 4 (against my Doctor's advice, but I coludnt stay home anymore).
Yesterday was my 6 week mark, so the pins came out, I was scared for weeks because they do it with no anstesia, but to my big surprise it didnt hurt! I could feel pressure when the Dr fulled them, but no pain.
Last night was very painful, and today walking around was too, I guess it takes time..
I still have to wear these ugly post opp shoes for 3 days (the holes from the pins are still open, so I have bandages).
My toes are still swollen, and I walk very slow and funny, But I hope it will all be worth it, because my toes hurt all the time before surgery.

I had hammertoe surgery 5 days ago and it hurts like h...

I had hammertoe surgery 5 days ago and it hurts like h...

This is not a surgery for wimps.