About my surgeon: My surgery was performed by an orthopedic surgeon (M.D.) that specializes in foot and ankle surgery. I also consulted a couple of podiatrists (DPMs), but I felt more comfortable going with the M.D. The surgeon and one of the podiatrists recommended a cheilectomy on both big toes (the surgeon uses the term "debridement" instead of cheilectomy). Both said I was good candidate for this procedure since my Xrays seemed to show a good deal of cartilage remaining in the joint. Both doctors communicated optimism, saying that studies show very high success rates with this procedure. They both had a very similar claim: Once we perform this procedure, we don't see the patients again; they don't come back needing followup. The surgeon said that the studies extend to 15 years post-operation, and that the vast majority of patients have no recurrence of bone spurring.
Unique in my case: My case is a little different than your standard cheilectomy, because I have bone spurring and joint deterioration not only in the common place--the first MTP joint--but also in the interphalangeal joint in the big toe itself. The pain in this joint was often worse than the pain in the MTP joint. Since bone spurring and pain are less common in the interphalangeal joints, all of the podiatrists I consulted seemed to ignore my symptoms there and focused on what they commonly see: problems with the MTP joints. The orthopedic surgeon or M.D. that ultimately performed my surgery listened to this complaint, and noticed the phalangeal spurring on the Xrays. Hence, the surgeon performed debridement in both joints on both sides.
Why bilateral? My surgeon originally recommended doing one foot at a time, as is common practice. I asked if doing both feet at once was possible, in order to not have to go through this ordeal twice. He said that he would not do this for most patients, preferring that they have the full experience and recovery from the surgery on one foot before committing to both. However, since I was a good candidate for this and my case was straightforward, he agreed to do both.
Hi Michael, your blog and others have been so helpful in me deciding to go ahead with my surgery. I considered starting my own blog but found it so helpful when I read others experiences in the comments of blogs - it's like getting several experiences in one blog, that I decided to record my experiences on your blog. I choose your blog because I too have had bilateral cheilectomy.
ReplyDeleteI am a dancer in my fifties. Both my big toes have problems. I have never worn high heels but apparently Hallux Rigidis (sounds so official) is common amongst runners. So I figure that dancers can be considered to be part of that group as well. My big toes have been preventing me from dancing - I do same-sex ballroom dancing and have not been able to do any of the Latin dances since it requires most of the weight to be shifted to the front of the toes. Ouch. Decided to go ahead with surgery about the time that you were on day 6 or so.
My orthopedic surgeon agreed to let me do both toes at the same time. I scheduled it for the day after I returned from vacation.
How are you now?
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