Hi there,

I am wondering if anyone out there has had their big toe(s) shortened and would share their experience. Since my last (and first) post, I have seen a podiatrist for the first time (yay!), and found out that the problem with my feet is severe pronation. At every step, my arches collapse and my feet flatten almost completely, resulting in extra strain on my big toe joints...I'm only 28 and have moderate bunions on both feet, and these have been more and more painful over the last two years. My big toes are also noticeably longer than my second toes, which makes it worse when my feet flatten - my toe nails end up hurting as well and get some weird discoloration on my big toe nails because of it...
I only just found out that I should be wearing orthotic insoles, and intend to have some made, but I'm also waiting to see a Podiatric surgeon (my appointment is in July), and am considering bunion surgery.
I am curious about the possibility of having toes shortened and wonder if anyone has had their big toe shortened for similar or for different reasons. Also, I would love to hear from people who've had any other toe(s) shortened who would be willing to share their post-op experience.

Thanks a lot,

Lifwynn.

Repair of the bunions will shorten the toes some. It may be enough to make the difference you are talking about without additional shortening. Your surgeon can tell you once he sees the xrays.

Hi lifwynn - I responded to your first post and ironically, here I am again able to offer you a response to this question. I had bunion correction in order to relieve my discomfort, but at the same time I had my big toe shortened, not a lot as it doesn't look that much different. Have a look at my recent post "Anyone with failed bunion surgery" and you will see what my experience has been - not good, in fact it has been life altering. Granted, this could still have been the outcome if my toe wasn't shortened, but I won't ever know that for sure. It has been 15 months since my surgery and my foot has not been the same since. My surgeon said I have a neuroma but when I went for second opinions, both doctors thought that my problems stem from a short first metatarsal (and not a neuroma) which I can assume is from the extra bit of bone that was removed. I have one more appt. this week to see yet another orthopedic surgeon, so I'll see what he has to say. So at this point I must say that the cause of my problems isn't entirely conclusive and therefore I can't say for sure if shortening my toe is at the root of all of this. So far my outcome has been that either I may need more surgery to try and correct this, of course with no guarantees and possibly even more problems or this is the way my foot will be from now on and I will have to learn to live with it. I guess there is always the chance that my foot will settle down and be manageable down the road, but nothing can make up for the time that I've lost agonizing over my discomfort and limitations not to mention that I've spent thousands of dollars because of all this. Maybe I was just unlucky and there are others that have had no problems after. I know that shortening an overly long second toe is fairly common and that certain bunion correction procedures do produce a shorter toe, I'm sure there are safer ways to go about that, but for the right reasons where that procedure is warranted. Who knows what went wrong with my particular case. I don't mean to scare you, but I just had to write and tell you my experience so that you go into this with your eyes wide open and even possibly save you from a similar fate. To me, any doctor that would agree to do something for esthetic reasons knowing it could possibly compromise the foot's function could not have much in the way of ethics. And if he didn't know then what can I say. The almighty consent form that a patient signs will save them in most cases. The business of making this bigger or that smaller is taken so lightly by people including myself and we are naive when we don't consider the risk that things can go wrong. What I had done and what you are considering fall into this category I'm afraid. I know now that vanity=insanity and I beat myself up for how stupid I've been in allowing this to happen to myself. You may also be interested to know that esthetically, my toe does not look a heck of a lot better then it did before. If I could have my old foot back, bunion pain and all, I'd do it in a heartbeat. So my advice is to get a few opinions. I understand you have pain from your bunions but please be very wary of anyone that would agree to do something for the sake of cosmetic reasons only. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask me.

This is odd, but, I could swear that my second toe became shorter due to the bunionectomy I had. I even brought this up to my doctor and showed her. She didn't see it, but I had a friend look and she could definitely see it. So, I definitely think my bunionectomy shortened both toes.

Hi Lifwynn - I had bunion surgery over 18 months ago on my right foot for a severe bunion where my big toe was crossing over the second toe and pushing up through the top of my shoe. I had to have a Lapidus procedure where the bone further up in the foot was actually fused. This caused the big toe to become shorter so the podiatrist had to shorten my second toe or it would have been longer then the big toe. I also overly pronate and had orthodics made when I first saw the pod almost 2 years ago. The orthodics helped a great deal however they will not correct the bunion.

I have to say I have no regretted my surgery at all even though I had swelling for a long time and had to be non-weightbearing for 8 weeks. I'm contemplating having the second foot done this fall.

Good luck and let us know what you finally decide.

Mary in NY

The reason your 2nd toe looks like it shortened was the fact that your big toe was straightened so it sticks out further. Impossible for a 2nd toe to get shorter from a bunionectomy. The type of osteotomy to correct the bunion and who does it has a lot to do with how much shortening you will get. Need to know what is causing the toe to be long, is it a long metatarsal or long bone in the toe itself. Never want to shorten the 1st metatarsal any more than you have to unless it is long and causing jamming of the joint.

Actually, when look at my two feet side by side, the second toe on the left foot (bunionectomy) *is* shorter after the bunionectomy. Everything matches except for that second toe...not that it is hugely short, but you *can* see that it is shorter.

Guess it must be then. Just no way the 2nd toe was shortened in surgery unless the bone was cut in the 2nd toe or the 2nd metatarsal. Just can't happen.

Hello again, Tootsie, and thank you so much for writing once more. I'm sorry I haven't checked the boards for a few days, and I'm very surprised about - and thankful for - the number of responses.

I'm very sorry to hear that you are still in pain, and I truly hope that someone will figure out what's causing the pain. Have you had your appointment yet?

I really appreciate your warning, and I agree with you that aesthetic considerations are very often at play, even when initially the pain made you consult a doctor - I've always disliked my feet, but bunion pain is making me consider surgery. From there, it's easy to think, 'while I'm at it...I could use a little extra fixing.'

I'm only just starting to realize all the different ailments of which my hyper-pronated feet are probably the cause - lower back pain, difficulty feeling comfortable when standing (I get restless and put my weight on one leg / then the other, then lower back discomfort soon kicks in), foot cramps when I exercise, sensation of a nerve being pinched in my lower back when walking sometimes, and the list goes on.

In the end, to be fair to yourself, dear Tootsie, I think you can't blame yourself for trying to find a solution for existing pain - you didn't undergo surgery for purely cosmetic reasons. It's very unfortunate that you have been in more pain post-op than before, but you couldn't know that in advance.
Keep us posted on your latest doctor's appointment, I hope it will be / was helpful and I sincerely hope that someone finally is able to treat your pain.

All best wishes, Lyfwinn.

Hi lifwynn - I responded to your first post and ironically, here I am again able to offer you a response to this question. I had bunion correction in order to relieve my discomfort, but at the same time I had my big toe shortened, not a lot as it doesn't look that much different. Have a look at my recent post "Anyone with failed bunion surgery" and you will see what my experience has been - not good, in fact it has been life altering. Granted, this could still have been the outcome if my toe wasn't shortened, but I won't ever know that for sure. It has been 15 months since my surgery and my foot has not been the same since. My surgeon said I have a neuroma but when I went for second opinions, both doctors thought that my problems stem from a short first metatarsal (and not a neuroma) which I can assume is from the extra bit of bone that was removed. I have one more appt. this week to see yet another orthopedic surgeon, so I'll see what he has to say. So at this point I must say that the cause of my problems isn't entirely conclusive and therefore I can't say for sure if shortening my toe is at the root of all of this. So far my outcome has been that either I may need more surgery to try and correct this, of course with no guarantees and possibly even more problems or this is the way my foot will be from now on and I will have to learn to live with it. I guess there is always the chance that my foot will settle down and be manageable down the road, but nothing can make up for the time that I've lost agonizing over my discomfort and limitations not to mention that I've spent thousands of dollars because of all this. Maybe I was just unlucky and there are others that have had no problems after. I know that shortening an overly long second toe is fairly common and that certain bunion correction procedures do produce a shorter toe, I'm sure there are safer ways to go about that, but for the right reasons where that procedure is warranted. Who knows what went wrong with my particular case. I don't mean to scare you, but I just had to write and tell you my experience so that you go into this with your eyes wide open and even possibly save you from a similar fate. To me, any doctor that would agree to do something for esthetic reasons knowing it could possibly compromise the foot's function could not have much in the way of ethics. And if he didn't know then what can I say. The almighty consent form that a patient signs will save them in most cases. The business of making this bigger or that smaller is taken so lightly by people including myself and we are naive when we don't consider the risk that things can go wrong. What I had done and what you are considering fall into this category I'm afraid. I know now that vanity=insanity and I beat myself up for how stupid I've been in allowing this to happen to myself. You may also be interested to know that esthetically, my toe does not look a heck of a lot better then it did before. If I could have my old foot back, bunion pain and all, I'd do it in a heartbeat. So my advice is to get a few opinions. I understand you have pain from your bunions but please be very wary of anyone that would agree to do something for the sake of cosmetic reasons only. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask me.

Hi lcweiden,

yes, this seems odd to me - but I really don't know all that much about bunionectomies yet...Thanks for posting!

This is odd, but, I could swear that my second toe became shorter due to the bunionectomy I had. I even brought this up to my doctor and showed her. She didn't see it, but I had a friend look and she could definitely see it. So, I definitely think my bunionectomy shortened both toes.

Dear RightFootMary,

Thanks for posting and sharing your experience. It sounds like your surgery turned out very well, congrats!
At this point, I'm going to have to wait until July to see the orthopaedic surgeon I've been referred to, and I've decided to make an appointment with another podiatrist which is also in July...Seems like a long wait, but I'm doing some research in the meantime, trying to find out about the range of procedures available and what each entails in order to be prepared and ready to ask questions. Unfortunately, I've come across negative feedback for this surgeon, but hopefully that's not a bad sign...
I didn't really 'click' with the first podiatrist I saw: maybe that's a bit superficial on my part, but the outdated look of just about everything in his office (including old equipment) made me doubt that he would be on top of new research and procedures. Also, I felt rushed for my very first appointment to see a podiatrist; I was beginning to ask an additional question when he abruptly said to me that all I needed to do was to inquire with my insurance and then come back to get orthotics made.
This other podiatrist I found after a bit of searching online, and he seems to be on the other end of the spectrum: he is one of the pioneering Canadian podiatric surgeons trained for titanium subtalar implant surgery, which seems would be an option for me since I have very flexible hyper-pronated feet.

I hope this time it will go well, considering I have to wait until July to see him!

Again, I'm glad to hear you're doing well post-op, that's encouraging!

All the best, Lyfwinn

Hi Lifwynn - I had bunion surgery over 18 months ago on my right foot for a severe bunion where my big toe was crossing over the second toe and pushing up through the top of my shoe. I had to have a Lapidus procedure where the bone further up in the foot was actually fused. This caused the big toe to become shorter so the podiatrist had to shorten my second toe or it would have been longer then the big toe. I also overly pronate and had orthodics made when I first saw the pod almost 2 years ago. The orthodics helped a great deal however they will not correct the bunion.

I have to say I have no regretted my surgery at all even though I had swelling for a long time and had to be non-weightbearing for 8 weeks. I'm contemplating having the second foot done this fall.

Good luck and let us know what you finally decide.

Mary in NY