Foot Surgery
When all forms of non-surgical treatment fail to bring relief to your foot problem, your foot doctor may suggest surgery. As with most surgical procedures these days, the most complicated foot surgeries can be done in an outpatient setting. It is very rare for a patient to be put in the hospital overnight for a foot surgery.
Pre-operative and post-operative teaching is performed prior to surgical correction. This encourages patient compliance and decreases the risk of complications. Most foot surgeries are done either at surgery centers or in the day surgery unit of many of the area hospitals. These facilities are equipped with the personnel that may be needed if an emergency should arise. The foot doctor and the anesthesiologist work closely to determine what type of anesthesia is best for the patient. In most cases, we choose IV sedation. This is a safe method in which the anesthesiologist gives the patient a sedative in the veins and keeps the patient comfortable and unaware of the surgery. The anesthesiologist is trained in knowing the proper dosages that the patient may need and has the proper monitoring equipment on hand.
As in all types of surgery, infection is rarely seen. The rate of infection in the surgical community has remained at less than three cases per one hundred surgeries, or 3%. Most surgeons find that it is actually lower in reality. Dr. Rampertab’s infection rate in outpatient settings as well as in-office procedures is less than 1%. For the Cryoanalgesia procedures performed in the office surgical suite, it is more like one per thousand procedures.
With proper surgical technique and post-operative instruction, swelling is rarely a problem. The patient is instructed to reduce walking or standing as much as possible for the first three days. This is when most swelling will occur. If proper instruction is followed, the patient may be walking in as little as two to three days. This is usually dependent on the type of surgical procedure performed. When bone surgery is performed, the amount of time off the feet may be slightly longer.