About a year ago I went to a well educated orthopedic surgen who has much experience in surgeries for the the foot and ankle. He did the exrays, talked to me about it and set up surgery. The day before surgery, I cancelled. Here's the deal. When he saw my bunionettes, he said that they are the worst he has ever seen. He said he would try his best but he really feels the only answer is joint replacement. That scared me to even hear it. Then add on top of that, the recovery time. It just seemed impossible to me. I just had my second child and needed to be able to carry her which would be impossible on crutches. I went out and bought the widest mens shoes I could find. I decided I would just have to live with it. Well, it turns out, I'm not "living with it" very well anymore. The bone literally hangs over the edge of my shoe. That just adds to all the pain, I already endure. I'm tired of waking at night from a shooting pain deep in the bone. I think I'm ready to start checking into the surgery again. I'm looking for anyone who has had exstensive joint replacement like this. I have to be honest, the outlook on different sites on the internet aren't all that promising. Was the surgery and recovery worth going through? Were you on pain medicine? Do any of you have little ones? Were you able to take care of them? I am really scared and am trying to find a positive side to this. Any advise would gladly be appreciated. Please share with me, your points of view on your own personal surgery.
There are many posts on this site regarding implants. No joint in the foot should get implants. They fail after about 5 years and then they either need to be replaced or a different surgery needs to be done.
When you say bunionettes, I assume that you mean out on the outside of the foot... Not the inside by the big toe. I've never even heard or seen implants being used on the outside. It absolutely would fail.
If the deformity is bad, the other question to ask is if the joint also is bad, ie. "arthritic". If it is not, then there is no reason to fuse or even suggest a replacement.
It may be time to get another opinion. Chances are, if the last person was really talking about joint replacement, he is probably retired.
I am surprised that they would recommend a joint replacement for a bunionette. I would highly recommend a second opinion from a good DPM. I have my great toe fused earlier this year and am doing great. Research your option, but I do not think a joint replacement is the way to go.
Best wishes -eko
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Bunionette replacement??? 
