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The response to the question below was authored by Marc Mitnick DPM

Redness on sesamoid bones on foot area

by Kim
(New York)

irritation of bunion and tailors bunion

Hi, I've found that wearing these tight shoes has caused me to have redness on my 1st metatarsal sesamoid bone area and on the 5th metatarsal area. I was wondering would this be called? A specific type of inflammation or am I developing a bunion? Because I was wearing flat shoes only not heels (specially tight ballet flat shoes). And what would be the probable treatment for this would be to get rid of the redness, but I have no pain in that area even with pressure.

RESPONSE

Hi Kim,

You are right. Based on your picture you do not have a bunion (yet), but it does appear that you have an enlargement on the outside of your foot; the area that is referred to as a tailors bunion. From the picture I cannot tell if that is actually bone or just soft tissue swelling.
As far as inflammation of the sesamoid bones is concerned that would be evident on the bottom of your foot just under the first metatarsal head. So, even though you might have some irritation of your sesamoid bones, it is not evident on the picture you supplied.
Okay, so we have irritation without pain on the inside and outside of your foot. You further state that you wear primarily flats and in particular tight ballet flat shoes and therein lies your problem.
Your shoes are too tight, plain and simple. Even though you are not having any pain per se, the shoes are still irritating the inside and outside of your foot. That is why the areas are red. Just so we are clear, you can have redness without pain.
The assumption here is that if you continue to wear those types of shoes, the redness will continue and more than likely at some point your foot may begin to hurt.
Since it can be assumed that the problem is with the shoes, then the only way you are going to solve this problem is to stop wearing shoes that are too tight.
In general, I have reservations about ballet shoes in that they are also very poorly supportive of the foot which at some point, may lead to other types of foot problems, but for now the fact remains that the shoes you are wearing are just too narrow.
There are no creams, exercises or anything else that I can think of that will eliminate the redness while continuing to wear these particular shoes.
If you stop wearing these shoes and wear shoes that are of adequate width, the redness should subside. Its just that simple.

Marc Mitnick DPM
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Orthotics for multiple types of foot pain best buy in a pre-made orthotic click link below

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Wonderful advice

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This is the best site for foot problem info.

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Thank you for your response. It sounds like a good plan to me. He did not cut the wart out first ...

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