toe curved to the right after hammer toe surgery, pin removed and fused

(Odenton,MD)

Can I have another surgery to make my second toe on my right foot to look normal. It ended up curved to the side at the tip after hammertoe/corn removal surgery and it looks deformed compared to my 2nd toe on my left foot.

RESPONSE
Hi,
I would have to actually see your foot and a set of x-rays to make a determination but in theory, yes you could have a second surgery to try and straighten your toe after a failed surgery.
But, before you make that decision, you need to consider a few things.
If you are doing this strictly for cosmetic reasons, which it sounds like you are doing, you need to understand that sometimes "the best laid plans of mice and men" do not always work out. What I mean by that is there is no guarantee that the second surgery will be any better than the first surgery. Wasn't the goal of the first surgery, in addition to alleviating any pain you may have had, to also straighten the toe?
Quite frankly, mankind cannot put things back together quite as well as the original parts. Each time you have surgery on the same area, particularly a small area of the body such as a second toe you are always going to end up with scar tissue to some extent. There is no way of getting around the issue, that is a normal part of healing. Some people have more, some less scar tissue.
Scar tissue is never as "good" as normal healthy tissue.
So, the point I am trying to make here is that a second surgery may actually end up making your toe worse from the standpoint of now having pain from the scar tissue, or loss of motion in one of the toe joints, to things like the second toe staying permanently swollen compared to the same toe on the other foot.
Just because something looks good on the surgical drawing board, does not necessarily mean it will translate into a successful surgery. Hopefully, your surgeon will point that out to you.
Now, if you are having pain from the resulting deformity of the first surgery than the so called "risk-reward" ration works in your favor in that since you are experiencing pain, having a second surgery, even if it does not work out will probably not leave you worse off.
I guess I can explain it this way. Which would you rather have, a crooked toe that does not hurt, or a straight toe that hurts or is permanently swollen?
I know nothing about your age, weight, activity, shoes that you wear etc. so I cannot really comment on what the success rate would be if you consider a second surgery. If you have your heart set on a second surgery, then you need to have a frank discussion with your surgeon as to what he or she feels is the success rate and also have the doctor explain to you what problems you could be left with if the second surgery fails.

Marc Mitnick DPM
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