When anyone has suffered from painful bunions and starts to think about bunion surgery, they always ask me...is bunion surgery painful? Bunions 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 and foremost, make sure that your surgeon provides local anesthesia before your surgery begins. 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 from 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 instance, while in Surgical Residency, I worked on research that related to a simple yet effective and low-cost technique that was extremely effective in reducing pain after 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. The secrets on this technique were published by myself in a medical journal called Ambulatory Surgery. I felt it was important to share this with other foot surgeons so that they could also make bunion surgery a better experience for their patients.

You should also have access to other postoperative pain-reducing advances like 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. Cryotherapy units continually ice and cool the surgical area for the initial days after surgery. Patients have less swelling, less pain, and they will recover faster.

Post-op pain is more than just an annoying sensation, it is also unhealthy in general. Pain in your feet can actually hinder the healing of the wound and prolong 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 ability to enjoy everything from walks on the beach to dancing at the charity ball is contingent on your feet. 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.