When we hear the word surgery we immediately think about a hospital, operating room and anesthesia. Most foot surgery however is not like this and this is something that people do not realize. They put up with the pain in their feet for much longer than they should, with the hope that it will just go away and they can avoid foot surgery. This type of surgery is normally done as a day surgery in the office of your podiatrist. You will not be put under anesthesia they will simply use a local anesthetic to numb the area and you will go home in a few hours to rest up and recover.
While there is any number of reasons for foot surgery the most common ones are for things such as arthritis, bunions, plantar corns and ingrown toenails. These sorts of surgeries will only be done as a last resort after all other options have been exhausted.
Once you have come to a place where surgery is the only option available to you, it will be up to you to find a podiatrist that you feel comfortable with and spend some time talking to him before hand to get a better understanding of what needs to happen.
Most foot surgery is done in the doctor's office where he has special equipment available to perform these types of procedures. Your doctor will set up an appointment for you, give you any pre-operative instructions you may need and then send you on your way till the day of the surgery. When it is time to have you surgery done, it is advisable to wear comfortable clothing and you will definitely need to have someone come with you to drive you home.
In most cases foot surgery is done with a local anesthetic that will numb the area they are working on, but you will be fully awake during the procedure. Most procedures can be done in an hour or less and some may even surprise you by taking less than fifteen minutes. In these cases it truly takes more time to prepare for the foot surgery and get you ready to go home than to do the surgery itself.
Depending on the foot surgery you have you will either have a dressing put on the opening and be allowed to wear a loose pair of shoes home, or you may need to have a larger dressing and a surgical boot put on your foot. If the foot surgery involves bones then you will most likely need to wear a cast for a few weeks.
Once you are finished with surgery and prepped to go home,the doctor will go over post surgery care. You will likely need to stay off your feet for a time, to allow your foot to heal up and to prevent excessive bleeding at the incision sight.
Once your foot has healed you will have to make one last trip to the podiatrist to make sure everything is healing right and then you will be able to forget all about foot surgery for a while. Foot surgery does not need to be scary nor does it need to slow you down too much. 866 866 Feet is ready to evaluate your feet and help you develop a treatment plan that works for you.
