What exactly is Brachymetatarsia?
This is a condition in which one of the metatarsal bones is congenitally short. It tends to affect women more than men and commonly involves the 4th metatarsal.
Short 4th metatarsal Brachymetatarsia Brachymetatarsia with slight joining of both 2nd & 3rd toes
Patients that present with Brachymetatarsia attend The Yorkshire Foot Hospital complaining that their fourth toe is too short and overlapping the third or fifth toe. As well as relieving their pain, patients tend to feel embarrassed especially when wearing open-toed sandals and are looking for an improved cosmetic appearance.
How we carefully select our patients
Prior to considering surgical treatment for Toe lengthening correction, we advise all our patients that once you have fully exhausted all non-surgical treatments which may involve the use of orthotics and you still present with the following:
If you satisfy these criteria we will be happy to offer you treatment at The Yorkshire Foot Hospital, Leeds.
The One stage approach
This involves lengthening the toe by cutting the metatarsal and lengthening the gap cut.
A small piece of bone is taken from your heel and is fitted into the gap created.
The new toe length is held in its new position with a small titanium plate and screws to stabilise the toe in its new corrected lengthened position.
It takes at least 6 weeks for the bone to heal, and a little longer with a graft. Recovery is usually complete within 12 weeks
Before Toe lengthening Surgery After Toe lengthening Surgery
Before and after Toe lengthening Surgery
