Hammer Toe surgery is a very common surgery and very simple surgery as well. The surgery takes place in America thousands of times each day. Essentially, the surgery involves changing a claw toe or hammer toe to a straight toe. This is done via a joint arthroplasty or arthrodesis. Below I have listed the five questions to ask your Podiatrist before undergoing hammer toe surgery.
5. Will you fuse my toe straight or will it be floppy- This is the key question to ask. You need to know what kind of surgery to your hammer toes the Podiatrist is going to perform. If the Podiatrist chooses to fuse your hammer toes, your toes will be fused in the straight position and you will no longer be able to curl them at all. If an arthroplasty is done, sometimes your toes can end up floppy, or you may not get the full correction you desire. This is very key as to what you should expect your outcome to be.
4. What kind of fixation will you be using on the hammer toe surgery– There are three types of fixation that are generally used for hammer toes. One is no fixation common with arthroplasties. In this case there are no worries as no screws or wires are used on the toe. Another, somewhat newer approach is implants for the hammer toes which help fuse the toe in a straight position. These have only been on the market the last five years and have met with good success. The one complication that you should be aware of with the implant fusion is the possibility of the toe to have prolonged swelling for as long as six months after the surgery. The most common technique of fixation of hammer toes, is a K Wire. These are removable wires which are inserted into the toes during the surgery and then left poking out of the toes. These are then removed anywhere from two to six weeks after the surgery. The purpose of these K wires is to hold the toe in the corrected position. Complications incurred with a K wire tend to be a higher rate of infection, but nothing that should give you pause to have the surgery.
3. How long will I have to stay off my foot- Hammer Toe surgeries and Podiatrists differ very widely on how long after hammer toe surgery a patient should be non weight bearing. This is crucial information you must be aware of before undergoing the procedure. Most likely they will vary from walk out of the OR to as much as six weeks after the surgery. The variation is due to procedure and variance among Podiatrists.
2. Will I have my hammer toe surgery in a hospital or surgery center– As a patient who is having hammer toe surgery, you want the procedure to take place in a surgery center. The surgery center is ideal for the less hectic situation and the more likely the surgery will go off on time. It is worth putting off the surgery a week or two if it means having the surgery performed in a surgery center.
1. Do I really need to have hammer toe surgery— This seems like an absurd question, but the bottom line is hammer toe surgery is surgery. Hammer toes will not kill you, and generally are a manageable deformity with padding and bracing. The key to this question is you are the one that knows the answer. It is very simple; if the hammer toes are effecting your quality of life you should have the surgery done. If not, then pass on the surgery.