Surgery for flat feet is a big deal. Do not let anyone ever tell you it is not. Flat foot surgery tends to be very invasive with a great deal of risks. What I have attempted to do is write down some of the most common risks associated with flat foot surgery. Now to be clear there about twenty to thirty flat foot procedures that can be performed at any one time. So, I will try and clarify what risks are associated with what procedures.
Before we begin there is a flat foot procedure that is termed Subtalar arthroesis where an implant is placed in your subtalar joint in an attempt to inhibit pronation. The greatest risk with this procedure is you have to have the implant removed otherwise this is a harmless procedure with minimal risk. However, I personally believe this procedure does not work.
One very common complication that is common to any surgery is infection. This is at a heightened risk in flat foot surgery since most likely you are having screws or plates placed in the foot to secure and fuse joints or osteotomies. Generally, because of the increased risk you will be given antibiotics pre and post operatively to decrease the risk of infection. If you do get an infection, that can be a very serious situation which may require IV Antibiotics or re-operation to remove the infected hardware.
Everybody worries about blood clots and granted because the surgery does immobilize you for a long period of time, the chance of blood clot is increased. This however is a very low chance. If you are just vigilent about calf pain then any blood clot can be caught early and managed easily.
Non Unions or Delayed Unions- Many flat foot procedures require fusion of joints or cutting of bones with fusion of the osteotomy site. Sometimes these areas do not fuse together. This is more common in joint fusions. The signs of this will be persistent swelling over the operation area and recurrent pain and discomfort, as well as pain with weight bering. This can only be diagnosed by X ray or CT Scan. The treatment for non unions and delayed unions involves bone stimulators and if that is unsuccessful, re-operation to refuse the joints. If you smoke you increase the risk of a non union five fold.
The operation fails- This is by far the most common and most likely complication. There are thirty forty operations that are out there for flat foot surgery and a lot of them fail. There is no magical bullet for flat foot surgery, it does not exist. Also, there is large gulf in surgeons skill for flat foot surgery. You should ask your surgeon how many procedures he has done. You need a surgeon that does a couple a month. But, you have to be prepared that your surgery may fail. There is no definitive study on what percentage of flat foot surgery fails but it is probably about 25%. And once your surgery fails the only solution in most cases is another surgery. I know of some people that have had 10-20 surgeries on their flat feet. It is important to remember there are large number of people who have had successful flat foot surgery as well. I hope this article helps. If you have any questions send me an email at sjstinehour@yahoo.com.