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Introduction
The South West Foot and Ankle Centre has been established to deliver multidisciplinary
management of all foot and ankle problems and is the first centre in the South West to offer
minimally invasive bunion surgery.
Recently it has become evident in orthopaedic surgery that preserving the soft tissue attachments to bones increases their rate of healing and decreases the discomfort experienced post
operatively.
The minimally invasive methods allows the surgeon to perform bony surgery in a closed manner. This proceedure reduces soft tissue injury and scarring and allows correction of the deformity with minimal surgical intervention.
Why change from traditional ‘open’ forefoot surgery?
Traditionally forefoot surgery requires a 4-8 cm incision over the inner part of the foot with a small 1 cm incision between the first and second toe. Soft tissues were lifted from the bones the
bones then cut and the deformity corrected.
We as foot surgeons are constantly striving to improve our methods and recent technological
advances have allowed us to develop a new minimally invasive technique.
The minimally invasive methods allows one to perform the bony division in a closed manner
preserving the soft tissue attachments and containing the chemicals released by the bones after
the surgical injury which promote healing.
This technique has been developed by a small number of foot and ankle surgeons who have a
large experience with open forefoot surgery.
This new technique has allowed us to perform traditional operations but in a less invasive
manner, which means that patients can have the predictable recovery that is associated with
open forefoot surgery but with much less damage to the skin & soft tissues.
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