NEW YORK—Crystal Stewart suffered from bunions on both feet, walking and standing were painful and she was considering surgery. However, as a diabetic and self-described “big baby” when it comes to pain, she had concerns about how she would cope.
Then one day on the subway, an advertisement for minimally invasive bunion surgery caught her eye. Curious to know more she made an appointment.
Like any patient considering surgery, Stewart was a bit wary of the outcome, but she was immediately comforted when podiatrist, Dr. Andrew Glass explained how much less trauma the foot endures with minimally invasive procedures.
A bunion is a bony bump on the joint at the base of the big toe. Regular surgery for bunions requires an opening of two to three inches. Minimally invasive bunion surgery is done with only a 5-millimeter incision. The whole procedure is performed with long, thin instruments inserted through this opening. The surgeon carefully shaves off the protruding bone causing the bunion while looking at real-time X-ray images to see what’s happening underneath the skin.
