Chevron Osteotomy- Bunion Surgery

Here is a picture of my foot, both bunions are about the same.

 

First of all, when offering a picture of a bunion for any sort of evaluation, only weight bearing photos should be taken. But, in general, whether one should have surgery or not is as much a patient as a doctor decision, and what type of procedure would be most appropriate would require an evaluation of weight-bearing x-rays.

 

Have you ever seen 19-20 year old males having the chevron osteotomy done?

 

The chevron bunionectomy is one of many, many bunionectomies where a distal osteotomy is performed on the first metatarsal to move the metatarsal head laterally where there is more than acceptable metatatarsus primus varus present. Not all bunionectomies require such a first ray correction, but this is a judgment which must be made after full evaluation of the individual foot. There is nothing special or revolutionary about this particular osteotomy procedure which gets its name from the shape of the cut.

Here is a reasonable review of the generally accepted criteria and technique of the procedure. http://www.wheelessonline.com/ortho/chevron_osteotomy. I have performed it and procedures essentially similar to it on patients of the age you mention when my personal criteria have been met.

 

The reason I am interested in the Chevron surgery is that from reading about it online it seemed to have a rather quick recovery time compared to the other surgeries. I read somewhere that the patient was able to walk(in a boot)the very next day. Would you agree with this?

 

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First of all, it is one thing to have a doctor offer two reasonable solutions to a problem along with the pros and cons of each and have the patient pick. It is another thing for a patient to pre-select a procedure from hi/her reading on the Internet and without the benefit of first hand medical knowledge then search out a doctor who will agree to perform it. Secondly, all osteotomies involve a surgical fracturing of bone which then needs to heal. One of the most basic precepts of fracture healing is stabilization of the fracture segments. I would not agree with allowing anyone with any type of first metatarsal osteotomy bearing weight on the operated foot until sufficient progress toward bony union has taken place so as not to risk uneventful union. In my opinion, there is no reason that a chevron osteotomy should be exempted from that list.