1 year post bunion removal 24 years old

Posted , 4 users are following.

Hello Everyone!

Just want to give an update. It has been a little over a year since Ive had my bunions removed on both feet, I was 23 years old and it was my first surgery and frankly I was terrified but now I think it is the best thing I ever did for the pain in my feet. Now after a long day of nursing and standing on my feet I no longer feel the excruciating pain I once had. I am still unable to do lunges successfully as I am scared to hurt my feet but I am working on that. Before I had my surgery I would read things online of people 40+ getting bunion removal so I wanted to share my perspective as a 23 year old with bunion removal. I believe being younger the healing process is much faster and I had the support of my family so do not wait until you are older! It only gets worse. I was off work for about 3 months but I am glad I got both feet done at the same time. Only issue I do have is that the scars are dark and have not gone away but I prefer that over pain!

My advice if you are getting bunion removal:

1)If you need both feet done, do both at the same time. You will not want to go back a second time and it is longer recovery.

2)Buy a shower chair to sit while you shower

3)Buy cast covers for your feet (on amazon)

4) Buy ice packs and wrap them around your feet

5) Elevate!

6) Take your pain medication

7) I was wearing toe spacers for about a year after the casts were removed to make sure my toe did not shift

8) Buy a good wide pair of shoes, if you buy them tight it is likely your bunions will come back

All The best !

Karen 😃

0 likes, 3 replies

3 Replies

  • Posted

    i also was 23 , early 20's when both were done. little at a time they statted to bother me, it is now almost 40 years and it has been pure hell. short teem results were food but longterm no. cant put weight on the big toe, the right far worse. i started walking on the outside of my foot which has caused more medical problems then you can imagine. i believe long term effects are what folks need to know about.

    • Posted

      oh gosh that is horrible! Sorry to hear that josies. Thank you for sharing though. That is my fear of long term effect. Right now it is definitely better than before for me. I Just have to be careful as I am always on my feet. It feels a bit sensitive around the area still

  • Posted

    Hello Karen,

    I'm 26 and also had both feet done..twice. You see the first surgery failed as both bones shifted and had to have an emergency surgery after 6 weeks where I was inserted k-wires to make sure the bones stayed in place while I healed. So it took about 4 months to walk at all and now as you can imagine I have to learn to walk all over again. Physio is really helping though .

    My only worry is that as a former ballet dancer and a yoga-lover, I know I won't be able to stand on my toes (as in this moment I can't even bend the toes manually because they are very stiff) but I was wondering how it is for you a year later.. My point is: is it possible after a long period of time to go back to these sort of activities? I hate the idea of not being able to do exercises and stand on my toes. I know it should be the least of my worries but it still bothers me since I had great toe flexibility. No one told me about this stuff before the surgery... My physio says that the bones need a lot of time to connect and it's an absolute no for now, which I can honestly understand.. I will definitely need a year to walk properly without swelling after having 2 surgeries so close by

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