Bunions: causes and advanced treatment options

What sets UFAI's experts apart from other bunion surgeons?

Patients travel from all over the United States seeking our advanced surgical techniques and attention to post-operative care that results in a permanent correction and faster recovery with minimal pain and scarring.

Our decades of surgical advances include:

• Development of the most advanced bunion surgery protocols, including our new minimally invasive procedure, Lapiplasty, and all-natural bunion correction.
• Pioneers of virtually scar-free surgical techniques.
• Over a decade of work in developing regenerative medicine protocols for foot and ankle surgery including Amniotic stem cells, Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), Amniotic fluid allograft, and the new SoftWave Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy.
• Years of experience running and participating in research, development, and clinical trials of the latest bunion surgery hardware and technologies, including the Ossiofiber non-metal fixation material technology.
• Individualizing every bunion procedure to suit each patient’s anatomy and lifestyle (a critically important component when it comes to recovery). Our surgeons utilize special techniques for handling soft tissue and closing incisions so as to achieve a cosmetically pleasing outcome. We never take a “one-size-fits-all” approach to treating our patients.
• Teaching other physicians both in the United States and in Europe how to perform the refined surgical techniques that we’ve developed, achieving over 25,000 successful surgeries to date.
• Offering the most advanced technology to give our patients the best possible results.

Our Bunion Surgeries are essentially painless and virtually scarless

Many bunion sufferers avoid surgery because they fear a long and painful recovery and unsightly scarring. The state-of-the-art bunion correction protocols we helped develop result in an essentially painless recovery and inviable incisions. In fact, most patients tell us they wished they hadn’t waited so long to have their surgery.

Our surgeons are able to remove the pain and scarring from most surgeries by:

• Taking extraordinary care in the handling of the soft tissue. It takes years of training and expertise to perform these types of dissections.
• Using advanced fixation systems so the bones won’t have any micro-movement, which will result in much less swelling and pain than with conventional fixation methods.
• Utilizing long-acting local anesthesia with a proprietary “cocktail” of medications to control post-operative swelling and pain.
• Incorporating regenerative medicine therapies into our treatment plan to greatly stimulate healing and reduce recovery time.
• Prescribing a special post-op boot which provides more stability and lessens the joint movement, resulting in less pain.
• Using post-op protocols to mitigate inflammation and pain without the need for excessive narcotic use.

The overwhelming majority of our patients rarely take more than one or two prescribed pain pills following surgery and are able to manage their post-op pain with over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications and Tylenol.

What happens if I do nothing about my bunion?

Early-stage bunion deformities will almost always get worse over time. Complications from an untreated bunion include:

• Increased discomfort and pain. Bunion progression cannot be stopped. Your bunion will cause increased swelling and pain and the bump will appear more pronounced.
• Osteoarthritis or bursitis. As the joint shifts more and more, your joints are impacted and will eventually become very damaged.  The cartilage will continue to deteriorate and a minimally invasive surgical procedure may no longer be an option for you.
• Crossover Toe. As more time passes, many patients see that their second toe begins to literally cross over the first toe. This causes pain, callusing, and even ulcers in your second toe. More invasive surgical procedures are now your only option.

Our state-of-the-art bunion correction procedures include:

Minimally Invasive Bunion Surgery

For mild to moderate bunions.

Advantages of our Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) for bunions:

• • Uses a tiny 1 cm incision
  • Allows immediate weight-bearing after surgery
  • Leaves a virtually undetectable scar
  • Minimal swelling
  • Minimal pain
  • Often no need for physical therapy
  • It is paired with Amniotic fluid allograft to speed up recovery and prevent internal scar tissue formation
  • This surgery avoids future joint problems because it does not involve opening the joint

Our MIS technique combines the best part of open bunionectomy (stabilizing the bone with hardware) with the best aspect of the traditional minimally invasive bunionectomy (small incision surgery) and new technologies. By marrying the best of both approaches with new technologies, our minimally invasive bunionectomy is an ideal procedure for achieving the best potential outcomes.

Whereas traditional minimally invasive procedures utilize a thin, fragile pin to fixate cut bone, our MIS approach uses screws to provide a stronger more stable fixation that can be placed through a very small incision.

Our type of fixation controls abnormal stress through the bone and holds both ends in the correct position until the bone fully heals. This results in excellent healing and limits non-union risks associated with traditional minimally invasive bunion surgeries.

Read more about our minimally invasive bunion surgery here.

Osteotomy Bunionectomy

For moderate to severe bunions without joint instability.

Our surgeons revolutionized the traditional osteotomy procedure. The advantages of our Osteotomy Bunion Surgery include:

• • Very small 3 cm incision
  • Immediate weight-bearing
  • A hidden incision along the side of the foot
  • Plastic surgery closure techniques result in minimal scarring
  • Early range of motion in recovery
  • Spurs, if present in the joint, are cleaned up
  • Non-metal fixation option is available

  • Amniotic Fluid Allograft and PRP can be used to speed up recovery and reduce internal scar tissue formation and stiffness

Osteotomy procedures are one of the most commonly performed bunion surgeries. An osteotomy, or bone cut, is made at the tip of the long foot bone located just before the big toe joint known as the metatarsal. This “V” shaped bone cut (when viewed from the side) allows the first metatarsal to shift toward the second metatarsal bone so that it ends up parallel to the second metatarsal.

The metatarsal bones are held together in their newly corrected position with two screws. Although the screws may be redundant after the bone is healed, they are often left in place to avoid a re-occurrence of the bunion.

We are proud to offer a revolutionary non-metal fixation option for bunion surgery called OSSIOfiber®. OSSIOfiber® is a bio-degradable polymer mixed with a mineral fiber that slowly grows into the human bone, reinforcing the bone healing site. It is eventually eliminated completely and replaced by the body’s own bone through natural cellular turnover. So, the material not only integrates but actually adds strength to the surgical site.

The osteotomy bunionectomy is a strong and predictable procedure and is commonly used on active patients younger than age 50.

Lapiplasty Bunion Correction

For moderate to severe bunions and the best option for those with joint laxity

Advantages of our Lapiplasty Bunion Correction include:

• • Permanent deformity correction with virtually no chance of reoccurrence
  • Weight-bearing in just two weeks (versus 6-8 weeks with traditional approach)
  • Stem Cell Membrane, Amniotic Fluid Allograft, and PRP may be added to speed up recovery and reduce internal scar tissue and stiffness
  • Stem cells and amniotic fluid to promote bone healing
  • Plastic surgery closure techniques result in reduced scarring
  • DynaForce Active Stabilization System foregoes the need for screws
  • On-site CT scanner allows our doctors to detect the completion of bone fusion earlier, which gets our patients moving faster
  • Our surgeons work directly with our physical therapists to offer our advanced PT protocol

Lapiplasty bunion correction is considered the Gold Standard for bunion surgery. For the right patient, this procedure has the highest success rates with essentially a 0% chance of the bunion returning.

This procedure has the lowest risk of re-occurrence of the bunion because the Lapiplasty addresses the source of the bunion deformity: a lax/hypermobile joint between the first metatarsal and the cuneiform (the bone located at the base of the big toe).

Lapiplasty surgery, considered to be the next-generation Lapidus Bunionectomy, uses patented instrumentation to manipulate the deviated bone back to its original position without cutting the bone, naturally realigning the foot and straightening the big toe, and alleviating the bump and accompanying pain.

Once proper alignment is achieved, Lapiplasty uses innovative bone fixation technology to secure the bones

Our surgeons further advance the Lapiplasty procedure with the addition of stem cells, amniotic fluid allograft, and PRP. These regenerative medicines may be added during surgery to promote bone healing, speed up recovery and reduce internal scar tissue and stiffness.

Read more about Lapiplasty bunion correction here.

Bunionectomy Yelp Patient Review

The following five-star Yelp review was posted by University Foot and Ankle Bunion patient, Shabnam.

...From start to finish, before and after my bunion surgery, [my Dr.] and his staff took great care of me.

 

The surgery was fast and precise, with clean incisions and nearly painless recovery. I did not need to take any of my pain medication.

 

Everyone in his office is warm, friendly, and knowledgeable, which makes the entire experience very smooth and pleasant.

 

Click here to see Shabnam's full review on Yelp.com.

Bunion Revision Surgery

Many of our patients come to us after previous bunion surgeries at other facilities have proved unsuccessful. In fact, revisions account for almost one-third of our bunion surgeries. It pains us that so many people need to go through surgery a second time.

Failed bunion surgeries are discovered when new complications appear, including recurrence of the bunion, an excessively short big toe, stiffness in the toe joint, arthritis,

It is essential to choose your revision surgeon wisely. Bunion revision surgery requires the necessary experience and skills to understand and address the shortcomings of the original surgery.

Are there Non-Surgical Bunion Treatments?

While you technically can’t fix a bunion without surgery, there are ways to slow or even stop the progression of the deformity. Custom orthotics, shoe modifications, exercise, stretching, bunion pads, and splints are commonly prescribed conservative treatments.

Learn more about our non-surgical bunion treatments here.

UFAI, the right choice for your bunion treatment

As an internationally recognized Center of Excellence known for our expertise in bunion surgery techniques and research, our surgical team is able to offer a treatment plan that will address the deformity, correct the underlying cause of the bunion, and prevent a recurrence.

With over 25,000 successful procedures performed to date, our success speaks for itself.

To schedule a consultation with one of our renowned bunion surgeons, please call (855) 872-5249 or make an appointment now.

University Foot and Ankle Institute takes our patients’ safety seriously. Our facility’s Covid-19 patient safety procedures exceed all CDC recommendations. Masks are required in our institutes at all times.

We are conveniently located through the Los Angeles area with locations in or near Santa Monica (on Wilshire Blvd.), Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, Northridge, Downtown Los Angeles, Westlake Village, Granada Hills, and Valencia California, to name a few.