Hi - just joined the group and have a few newby questions.

I’ve met with two podiatrists and an ortho so far. They’ve all agreed surgery would help me but they’ve also all set realistic expectations around and pros and cons of surgery vs non-surgical approaches. I’m electing to move forward with surgery because a bunion means my toes are basically partially dislocated at all times and I’ve found it to be uncomfortable and inhibit my ability to participate in activities I like such as walking, skiing, and hiking. My understanding is without surgery you can only manage symptoms and prevent bunions from getting worse, you cannot move the bones back into alignment with toe spacers or different shoes.

A few years ago I saw a podiatrist about mild bunion pain and their first recommendation was orthotics not surgery. They actually told me they wouldn’t recommend surgery at that time. Now, several years later the pain has progressed (I never got the orthotics, insurance wouldn’t cover it) and now surgery is and option.

You might first want to try toe spacers (they won’t fix the bunion, but they may give your toes some relief while you wear them) and orthotics from a podiatrist. I wasn’t pushed for surgery by any of the docs I saw. They gave me options and told me it was ultimately up to me and that if they bothered me enough, then surgery may be worth it. I had MIS 6 month ago and am happy with the results. Going to get my other foot done later this year. I had moderate bunions as well, but they were/are starting to affect my other toes and I wanted to get them corrected before they continued to progress and make everything worse.

To answer your 1st question: Toe spacers, bunion pads, bunion braces and bunion sleeves all provided some relief for me. That only lasts for so long, though. I can’t count the amount of different products or shoes I’ve purchased in order to accommodate my feet due to suffering from bunions. The bunions got progressively worse over time. Honestly, I knew surgery was inevitable. To answer your 2nd question: I don’t think podiatrists prefer surgery as the first option. I think they’d prefer for the patient to do what’s best for them, for as long as the patient can endure those personal choices/preferences. It’s basically up to the patient to decide whether or not to do surgery anyway.

My podiatrist years ago didn’t recommend surgery but last year when I started having lots of pain all the time and my bunion was severe, then he said I needed surgery

None of those devices work, ever. I used an orthopedic foot and ankle specialist.

Try custom orthotics if you haven't already. That's what I did and it helped me for about 6 months.

1. Whilst some relief may be had from spacers and such, they do not work in stopping a bunion progressing. Even wearing sensible, toe box spacious shoes don’t stop them progressing once they’ve started. 2. Prior to my surgery I was told all the options including orthotics, all of which I had already tried to no avail. 3. A splint for bunions can help post surgery to help the toe stay in its new position. This is because the bone is healing and re-structuring and the splint then can encourage it into staying put. After a time when it has healed and the bones strong again in their new position the splint is unlikely to be useful again unless the surgeon or physiotherapist recommends it.

While toe spacers and other non-surgical treatments may provide you with temporary relief they are not a cure and won't help prevent the progression of bunions. I literally had a drawer full of a variety of non-surgical items and, for me, they were just useless crap. I decided against orthotics because I felt it was just delaying the inevitable. My experience with a podiatrist was the opposite regarding surgery, instead acting like I needed to be incapacitated before surgery was an option. My pain became steadily worse so I sought a 2nd opinion from a foot/ankle orthopedic surgeon. He discussed pros/cons of surgery, etc with me and I decided on surgery before the bunion became worse. I had Minimally Invasive Surgery and at 9 weeks post-op, so far very happy I did!