BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Body Care Hammer toes, anyone??

Yikes! I have been told I have "Hammer Toes." EWW!!
All of a sudden it seemed that my small toes doubled in size and my high heels were killing me. So, I went to see the doctor.

The doctor told me to only wear heels on special occasions. He said that women should wear no more than a 1-1 1/2 inch heel at work. Basically, he said women who wear heels 40 hours a week will end up paying the price.

Long story short...I may need surgery to shave down the bones on those toes. I am wondering if anyone has had this surgery and if so, how long was the recovery process?

Thanks!

I had two of my toes shaved and both of my bunions removed at the same surgery and it seemed like it took forever to get back on my feet and be able to wear shoes again. Hammer toe surgery probably wouldn't be as bad as the bunion surgery though. I would be sure to reserve more than enough recovery time. It always seems like I take longer to recover than what the dr. recommends. Good luck with your surgery.

I'm afraid I've never had this sort of experience. I avoid heels at almost all costs, bceause they hurt my feet so bad. The only heels I have that are more than about a half inch tall are on my 'dress-up' boots.

It sounds very painful! I hope that it all turns out alright for you!

Hi Connie M,

Thanks for your response. Just wanted to clarify...when you said you had 2 of your toes shaved down....was it your 2 small toes?
Also, you say it took "forever" to get back on your feet...are we talking say 6-8 weeks?
Just trying to get an idea how to prepare.
Thanks!

I hate to tell you a bad story before your surgery! I learned a valuable lesson about getting second opinions though. The dr did shave my two small toes, the outside of them. My whole recovery was a nightmare. A couple of weeks after I had the surgery my then 3-yr-old had a stomping temper tantrum and stomped on one of my feet where the bunion was and so it really messed things up. The dr put me in a walking cast for 6 weeks and when the dr put the cast on he had been holding my pinkie toe straight up. So when the cast comes off he says "oh my" and I am thinking "uh-oh" that can't be good. Well, my pinkie toe was stuck pointing up. I couldn't even move it by myself! I couldn't even get my foot in a shoe. And he says, no big deal. If you can't get it to stay down then come back in a week and we will just snip that tendon. I am thinking maybe no big deal to you! I took some tape and taped that toe down to the next toe and that wasn't very pleasant either! But I didn't have the tendon snipped. I have had lots of problems with that foot and I have seen another podiatrist since then and found out the first dr took off too much bone when he did the bunion surgery and I also have some pins in the bad foot (they shouldn't be there) and the foot is not straight like it should be. (I didn't know about any of that) So, the second dr says if I have to have bunion surgery again (which is a distinct possiblity he said) that the first dr really messed it up and I won't be able to have anything done to that foot. I was 28 when I had the surgery done, and now am 37 and my feet still look "good". I always buy a shoe with a good arch support (I have no arches at all and that is why I ended up with the bunions, plus both my grammas have bunions and 2 of my great grammas did too) and I try to avoid anything that doesn't provide arch support. My neighbor went to that dr too (thank goodness I didn't recommend him to her) and I can't remember what he did to her but she ended up having all kinds of problems after her surgery. She recommended the second dr to me. I just know that if your feet hurt then you are miserable!!

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