Bunion surgery

I had bunion surgery 2 months ago and find that I cannot bend the tip of my toe down. I also have mild-moderate swelling mostly in the plantar surface of the foot (ball of the foot) in the area of surgery. This swelling is unusual because it occurs at night and lesssens during the day, almost as if walking and standing help to force the fluids out of the problem area. But around 4 am the area starts to swell.

Before surgery the big toe was rotated so that the outer surface was bearing weight. It is possible that I didn't bend the toe of the tip before the surgery and didn't notice it because of it's abnormal position.

The big toe tends to sit slightly higher than the rest of my toes. I can bend the tip joint myself but can't make it happen on its ow. Exercises and mobilization might help (though the podiatrist did not mention these). Not bending the tip may contribute to the toe sitting high.

Could it be that a tendon was damaged. I will continue with the exercises but any input would be appreciated.

Thanks. Dylpup

[FootDoc]

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The great toe could be elevated for a number of reasons, among which might be a mal-angulated osteotomy, poor fixation or inappropriate and early weight bearing, although I don't even know if an osteotomy was performed. Over-tightening of the joint capsule and shortening of the extensor tendon could also be a potential cause. Certainly though, one of the most important aspects of evaluating a bunion deformity for surgery and determining what needs to be done and can be done is determining the functionality of the great toe joint and the condition of the joint components, and the joint may not have been suitable for whatever type of procedure was selected. But there is not a doctor in the world who, without having examined you and knowing the details of the procedure performed, can authoritatively answer the questions which you ask. In my view you certainly should be aggressively questioning your surgeon for answers and not being satisfied with his/her simply not mentioning anything. I am very curious as to why so many folks who post problems on this forum seem to have been so timid with their own doctors or alternately somehow fail to mention that they were not.