'A Huge Advancement': New High-Tech Help For People Who Suffer With Bunions
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. (CBS) -- There's new high-tech help for a common foot problem that causes all kinds of pain and difficulties with shoes. Just saying "bunion surgery" hurts.
It's the last resort for the foot problem that a third of Americans struggle with, but one doctor in Montgomery County has a technique that has patients back on their feet fast.
Having her foot back in working order is major for Jill Extract, who competes in triathlons.
"I couldn't run, I couldn't walk, I couldn't do anything with my foot because the pain was so excruciating," she said.
Extract had a bunion, which is a foot deformity that millions of men and women suffer from.
"It was extremely disruptive," she said.
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Extract didn't want traditional bunion surgery, which comes with a long painful recovery, and it usually fails. She turned to Dr. Jason Miller with Premier Orthopedics in Collegeville for a more patient-friendly surgery.
Miller uses a precision cutting guide made specifically for bunions.
"So that when we cut the bone and we lock that joint together, it's the perfect correction every single time," Miller said. "We are not borrowing screws or hardware from a shoulder or from a hand and trying to make it work in the foot. So it's really been, you know, a huge advancement."
He says the surgery time has been reduced from two hours to 30 minutes. There's less swelling and pain, and a quicker recovery.
Extract says there was some minimal discomfort right after the surgery and now she's back in action.
"It's absolutely remarkable. I did not expect to be able to do a five-mile race less than four months post-op," she said.
Bunions are usually hereditary but can also be caused by shoes, especially those popular pointy, spiky high heels.
Before surgery, there are a variety of treatments that can work including rest, ice and orthotics.
While bunions can happen to anybody, women are more likely to get them.
