Bunions indicate a bone misalignment in your foot — and they only worsen without treatment. Landmark Foot and Ankle Center in Alexandria, Virginia, can fix your bunions with highly advanced minimally invasive surgery. Caring podiatrists Philip Garrett, DPM, and Dong Kim, DPM, offer a variety of bunion surgeries, so call the office to learn more or click the online scheduling tool now.

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What are bunions?

Bunions are hard bumps that appear at the bottom of your big toe, protruding from the side of your foot. Smaller bunions, called bunionettes or tailor’s bunions, can occur at the base of your pinky toe.

A bunion is a change in your metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint, the place where your foot and big toe bones come together. Bunions start when the two bones in your MTP joint drift out of their regular positions. Because this is a very gradual process, bunions usually develop quite slowly. Without treatment, the bones continue to shift, and the bony bump grows larger.

What are the symptoms of a bunion?

Bunions display a noticeable bump in your forefoot. Because of that bump, you may develop the following symptoms.

  • Pain
  • Soreness
  • Red, inflamed skin
  • Calluses
  • Stiff toe

With the most severe bunions, you might have problems walking normally.

What causes bunions?

Inherited foot structure is the main cause of bunions. Neuromuscular disorders, traumatic foot injuries, and congenital foot deformities may also cause bunions. If you have arthritis, flat feet, or wear high heels often, you’re more likely to develop a bunion.

In some cases, you can delay bunion progression by making good footwear choices and maintaining optimal foot health through regular checkups.

How do you treat bunions?

There are many ways to ease your bunion pain and other troublesome symptoms. Your Landmark Foot and Ankle Center specialist may prescribe a change of shoes (wider-set toe boxes), custom orthotics, and icing the bump.

If you’re overweight or obese, it’s important to lose extra weight. That can greatly reduce the pressure on your feet and may prevent the bunion from growing worse. These conservative methods can help with your symptoms, but they can’t reduce the physical size of the bunion. If you have a severe bunion that’s causing unmanageable pain, you may need corrective surgery.

Landmark Foot and Ankle Center offers minimal incision surgeries (MIS) and traditional surgeries for bunions. An MIS bunionectomy involves several very small incisions, while a traditional bunionectomy has one long forefoot incision.

Your podiatric surgeon always makes every effort to minimize scarring, swelling, and tissue damage so you can get excellent physical and cosmetic results.

Most bunion surgery patients can walk immediately and are back in regular shoes by six weeks post-procedure.

If you have bunions, reach out for relief by clicking the provided link or calling the Landmark Foot and Ankle Center office now.