Melony Collins grew up with bunions which became so severe by adulthood that even a bed sheet brushing her feet would cause pain. Melony describes her life-changing treatment and her surgeon, Mr Mark Davies, explains how often ugly feet become painful feet.
Bunions run in my family – my father had them and so did his mother. I was only ten when my mother noticed the start of bunions and took me to see a specialist. Surgery wasn’t considered and I was given exercises. Then I went off to boarding school, where I didn’t do my exercises and enjoyed lots of sport.
My bunions got worse and worse. I am tall and I would say I’m happy with my looks but my feet became really ugly. People would even comment – they would see my feet and say: ‘Oh, they must be so painful.’ I’m not the sort of person who would have covered them up, nor would I have considered surgery just to make my feet look better.
They were certainly painful though, even to the extent that a bed sheet brushing over my bunions would be enough to hurt. I would have to carefully arrange my feet in bed. When I went to see Mr Davies he asked me why it took me so long to go for treatment. I have five children and while they were growing up, it wasn’t practical to have an operation which would have meant staying off my feet afterwards.
When my youngest child went into sixth form, there was finally time for the things I wanted to do myself and getting my bunions done was one of those things. When Mr Davies asked whether my feet are painful, I didn’t know what to say, because it was simply something I had been living with for my whole life.
I had an operation to correct the bunions, shorten both of my second toes, remove a ganglion (cyst) and treat four Morton’s neuromas. So it was a case of covering everything in one go.
Mr Davies told me to expect two weeks of feet up and no weight bearing, six weeks to be fair, six months to be good and for a year for all swelling to go down. That was exactly what happened and it was all very manageable. At the three month stage, I drove to France on my own without any problems.
Now, my feet are lovely – straight and perfect. My motivation for having surgery was not cosmetic, but it is wonderful having a free choice of shoes and being able to wear sandals without people expressing horror. I can wear ski boots, gun boots for walking the dogs – nothing is a problem.
Melony’s bunion surgery – before and after
The specialist’s view – Mr Mark Davies
There are often reports about people having foot surgery for cosmetic reasons. At the London Foot and Ankle Centre, we would not operate for cosmetic reasons alone and in fact, our patients don’t want that. Melony is typical – patients come to us because they are in pain and the function of their feet is compromised.
They will describe their feet as ugly, but their motivation is not cosmetic. However, it should be noted that an ugly foot will often become a painful foot. This is because if you consider your foot to be ‘ugly’, the chances are that you are describing your foot in this way because have structural abnormalities. This means you are loading you weight unevenly with each step and over time, this is likely to cause problems.
You may have an ‘ugly’ foot which doesn’t hurt. But as you get older, you may lose some of the elasticity in your ligaments and the ‘shock absorption’ ability of your cartilage and perhaps you might gain a few pounds in weight. This is when ‘ugly’ feet start to become painful feet, because you are less able to compensate for poor foot mechanics.
The message would be – foot surgery should not be undertaken for cosmetic reasons, but if you consider your feet to be ugly because they are not a normal shape, be aware that you may face problems in the future. If your foot is already painful, don’t put off seeking treatment; surgery can substantially improve the way your foot looks – patients are often thrilled with the results – although the first priority is to restore function and eradicate pain.
