Hammer Toe Surgery is surgery used to straighten hammer toes. There are multiple methods to accomplish this. You can have your toe fused straight or you can have an arthroplasty which decompresses the joint. Below I have listed what I believe are the five most common complications that patients have with hammer toe surgery.
5. Infection– Yes, infections occur with any surgery including hammer toe surgery. Most hammer toe surgery infections are benign and clear up with simple antibiotics. Infection is not something that should enter into your thinking of whether you should have the surgery.
4. The Toe is not straight– In other words the surgery did not work. This is common with the procedure termed an arthroplasty. With a fusion, the toe will stay straight. With arthroplasty the toe can retract. This is a normal complication that sometimes just happens. You can always have another operation to straighten the toe or just wear a toe straightener such as this:
3. Scarring– It is hard to get a good scar for hammer toe surgery, and occasionally the scar can become prominent and cause pain. If you have a history of elevated scarring, you need to inform your surgeon prior to the operation.
2. The toe is too straight– You laugh, but this is a very common issue that people complain about. This occurs with the fusion operation, where the toe is fused straight. Patients complain about the fact they can no longer bend the toe and that it is too straight. They will find some of their old shoes will no longer fit. This is actuallly the result of a perfect operation by the surgeon. The key to this is knowing what to expect from the operation, as per the result.
1. Swelling– After hammer toe surgery it is not unusual for the toe to swell for as long as a year. This is not unusual and nothing the surgeon can do. Again this is a common complication. If you suffer from this you might want to consider using a compression wrap around the toe to work out the swelling such as this: