Let’s take a closer look at some of those negative ideas up above, and why they don’t hold much water.

Many of them revolve around the implication that the only treatment for a bunion is getting rid of it for good; a full correction of the deformity.

However, in many cases, a full correction is not necessarily the primary goal.

The only thing that can completely “eliminate” a bunion is bunion surgery, but that is often not the best way to address a patient’s symptoms, if it can be helped.

True, some people have a bunion that is so severely advanced that no other attempts to provide comfort and relief work. In those cases, surgery might actually be the only realistic option. However, the goal here is still not the cosmetic repair of the bunion, but to address the other outlying symptoms.

Even when surgery manages to place the big toe back into its standard position, that does not mean the causes responsible for the bunion are gone. The initial imbalance in the joint and its surrounding elements may still remain, and it is not uncommon for a bunion to begin forming again in the future.

The primary goals of treating a bunion will always be:

• Relieving a patient’s pain and comfort as well as possible.
• Slowing or preventing further progression of the bunion.

These goals can often be achieved via conservative (non-surgical) methods, and we will consider those first when recommending a treatment plan for you.

There is a lot of stigma against high heels and tight shoes when it comes to bunions.

We’re not here to defend that kind of footwear. They really can be murder for your feet in a variety of ways! But when it comes to causing your bunions? That is highly debatable.

Instability in the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint is ultimately responsible for the big toe shifting and the joint starting to jut out. This mostly results from natural abnormalities in the connective tissues that surround and support the joint. The ligaments may not be strong enough to keep the joint properly in place, for example.

Such abnormalities tend to be genetic, which is why you see bunions run in families. In rarer cases, a previous injury to the toe may have established a weakness around the joint.

Tight and high-heeled footwear is arguably not going to create this sort of imbalance—but that doesn’t mean it’s off the hook entirely!

While shoes that create pressure toward and around the front of the foot may not cause bunions, they can definitely make an existing case of bunions worse! Think of it like leaning on and wiggling a loose fence post; it’s not helping anybody.