Mail on Sunday features ''The Bunionator...''
Date: 24/10/2011
On 23 October, the Mail on Sunday included a two-page feature on a pioneering treatment that promises to end the misery of bunions with minimal recovery time, and no obvious scars. Mr Joel Vernois, of Care UK’s Sussex Orthopaedic NHS Treatment Centre in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, developed the keyhole surgery technique, which combines the principles of established bunion surgery with other minimally invasive methods.
In the article, Mr Vernois says: “Older techniques involved cutting the bone and not using any form of fixation, such as pins and wires, to hold the new alignment of the toe in place. Another technique involved leaving a steel wire in the patient’s foot before removing it four weeks after surgery.
“The new keyhole procedure works like an open procedure leaving permanent screws to fix the joint, but through tiny incisions. That means a minimal scar. The operation is performed as a day-case surgery and post-operative pain and swelling are reduced.”
The article featured two patients who have benefited from the new technique - including Lauren Morrey, 29, from Brighton, who put off having her painful bunions operated on for years. Then her doctor referred her to the Sussex Orthopaedic Centre, and last summer she had the procedure. “I saw Mr Vernois on the premise of having my left foot fixed but we decided to do the other at the same time,” Lauren told the Mail on Sunday.
To read the full article, please visit the Mail Online website:
Millions of women suffer from bunions and until now, the only way to cure them was through painful bone-crunching surgery
