This middle aged gentleman appeared to my office with big toe joint pain and a large bump at the top of the big toe joint. This bump is called a "dorsal bunion" to distinguish it from the typical bunion on the side of your big toe.
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| Here is the side view of John's big toe joint with a very large bone spur which will need surgical removal since it is causing him great difficulty fitting shoes. The bigger the spur, normally the bigger the joint breakdown. No surgeon would want to approach this without considering joint fusion. We will be getting an MRI to see if there is any normal joint surface worth trying to save. A total joint implant is probably the second best guess right now. Look at the other view of the joint above. |
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| Here the normal appearance of the joint looks distorted normally indicating a severe breakdown of the joint. If you look at the bone of the first metatarsal where it hits the toe, it does not look well. |
