Author: Foot Doc
Date: 9/19/2007 2:17 pm PDT
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DISCLAIMER:
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I would strongly advise that you get another opinion before you make any decision. I don't know what the extent of your deformity is, or whether you also have hallux valgus, as do most bunion patient who consider surgery, or what the intended procedure is to be. But from what you say, I would infer that you are being sold on a procedure with which I strongly disagree. It is an essentially blind procedure, where a bur is introduced or forced through the skin, often without even benefit of an incision, and bone is removed by grinding the the bony bump, which then becomes a paste-like substance when mixed with blood and other fluids, and this "paste" is squeeze out through the hole left by the bur. Some procedures also involve osteotomy, also performed essentially blind. This is called MIS (minimal incision or minimally invasive surgery), and most reputable foot surgeons strongly frown on such procedures, other than for the simplest of tiny bone spur removals on toes. It is often promoted as a new and advanced procedure, akin to the minimally invasive procedures employed by other surgical disciplines, such as for hernia repairs, gall bladder removals, appendectomies, knee surgeries, etc, but not only is is not new, but the critical difference is that all of those surgeries employ endoscopes or arthroscopes, which are insertable narrow tubes through which a tiny TV camera can be introduced, with the cutting and manipulating instruments introduced in a similar fashion. Thus, unlike the MIS surgery typically employed in podiatry, the surgeon performing these other surgeries has complete visualization of the operative site. Without such visualization, podiatric procedures performed by the method I described above, there is no possible way in which the surgeon can be assured of doing no collateral damage to nerves, blood vessels and other soft tissues in the area. In my opinion, not only can truly effective surgery not be performed in this manner, but, in spite of promises of ridiculously short recovery times, such is often not the case. I use to answer a lot of questions regarding this procedure, but I haven't had the occassion in some time. It has been my experience that the doctors who employ these procedures more often than not use these techniques exclusively, some with minimal training and ability to perform traditional surgeries, and many do not have hospital privileges and will minimize the need to have them.
All this being said, I cannot categorically tell you that your doctor is or is not one of those of whom I speak, or that he or she intends to perform the procedures of which I spoke. But I would highly recommend that anyone contemplating surgery of any sort spend a good amount of time selecting and vetting his/her surgeon. My recommendations as to how to look for a quality podiatric surgeon are detailed in my following previous post.
http://boardserver.superstats.com/read.html?id=18028&thread=17982&f=1&u=epodiatry |
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