Bunion Surgery

Surgery will take place at our outpatient surgery center, (ASC), on a Wednesday. You will be placed into a well padded splint and ace wrap after your surgery to allow for swelling. Leave this on until your first post-op appointment in the clinic 9-12 days later.

At your first post-op appointment the splint will be cut off in the cast room by one of our technicians. Your foot/leg will be cleaned up and the stitches removed at this time. Your doctor will look at your incision and make sure everything is healing well. You will be put into a cast or boot at this appointment. You will follow up in approximately three weeks. You will need to remain *protective weight-bearing until that appointment.

You will then follow up in three weeks. At this appointment you will be taken out of your cast or boot and will get x-rays of your foot. This will insure that you are healing and that you can be scheduled for screw removal three weeks from this appointment, or seven weeks from surgery. You will be still be *protective weight-bearing at this time. You will be scheduled for screw removal and will either have a small amount of anesthesia with local sedation or just local sedation. Your doctor will talk to you about which will be the best for you. This procedure only takes 15-20 minutes.

At seven weeks you will have your screw removed. You will have a stitch and just a small bandage on your foot. You will return to the clinic one week later to have the stitch removed. You should be *protective weight-bearing for just a few days, then gradually increase to full weight-bearing as tolerated. You will still have swelling off and on for at least three to six months depending on your activity level. You will follow-up in approximately four weeks to make sure you are healing. If everything is going well you will follow up on an as needed basis.

*Protective weight-bearing:
This means only a limited amount of weight to be placed on your heel only. You will still need to use crutches or a roll-a-bout. There should be no weight put on your great toe/toes. You have a screw in the great toe and need to protect it until its removal at seven weeks post-op.