Treatment of Hammertoes
Hello! Dr. Carlson here again. Today, we’re talking about hammertoes. A hammertoe, or a crooked toe, is when your toe starts to come up and the knuckle sits on top and often starts rubbing on your shoe. Very commonly, your little toe curls in and the knuckle sticks out and rubs on the edge of your shoe. This can become very irritating, very painful, and eventually you develop what is known as a corn. A corn is just thickening of the skin, so it’s trying to protect that toe from the rubbing, but eventually, the corn itself becomes painful.
There are easy ways to treat this. When you first come in, we’ll do some simple trimming of the corn, which will relieve the pain. We’ll talk about proper shoes. You want a shoe that has a deep shoe box, not necessarily wider, but deeper. That will give some room for those toes and prevent that rubbing. There are different types of pads you can use. We usually don’t recommend the the medicated corn pads, as they have acid in them, and sometimes the acid doesn’t know when to stop. We recommend some cushioning pads.
If that doesn’t work, there are some simple surgical procedures that can bring that toe back down.
We have several options, and we can certainly talk to you about it if you’re having trouble with toes or toe deformities. If you are, give us a call and we’ll get it fixed!
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