Arthritis in your big toe can bring a quick halt to your enjoyment of your middle and later years. Rather than walking, running, and fully participating in a happy life, you struggle just to keep up with everyone else. And in extreme cases of big toe arthritis, you may have to miss fun events with those you love most. Or, you simply suffer through as best you can.
Up to this point, fusion surgery has been the gold standard treatment for moderate and severe arthritic pain in your big toe. With fusion surgery, your physician removes the arthritic cartilage and inserts pins, screws, or a plate to allow bones to grow together.
However, with fusion, you completely and permanently lose any mobility you have in your big toe. It also requires a long recovery time of 4-6 weeks where you can’t bear any weight on your foot at all, and then another 4-6 weeks of walking in a boot. And finally, it also carries a small risk of infection and adjacent joint disease for the following decade.
While fusion surgery isn’t perfect, it’s been the best solution available, and it does eliminate arthritic pain.
But, now Cartiva’s available and completely changes the game.
Cartiva is an implant. It’s made of the same material most contact lenses are made from. And basically, it feels like an eraser that’s surgically inserted into your foot.
In practicality, choosing Cartiva instead of fusion surgery means you can literally walk right out the door following surgery and begin rehab. The surgery itself only takes about 30 minutes, and you don’t have to stay in a hospital to recover at all. Because Cartiva’s an implant, you don’t have bone which needs to heal. That allows you to bear weight on the affected toe immediately.
You will have some swelling for 4-6 weeks. Stitches get removed after 12 days. During that time, you can do most of your favorite activities. However, you will have to avoid the most strenuous activity (running and other high-intensity exercise, for example).
And Cartiva is safe. The FDA study which tracked the original Cartiva patients over a five-year period did not find a single defective implant!
You also have absolutely no risk of developing arthritis in other nearby joints (fusion surgery carries a small risk of this).
Cartiva is superior to traditional fusion surgery for many of our patients. And if you have moderate or severe arthritis around your big toe, it could be the perfect solution for you.
Call 214-574-9255 to talk to our physicians today.