Are you a candidate for minimally invasive bunion correction?

Not every bunion is ready for surgery, and not every patient is ready for MIS specifically. We’ve seen patients show up convinced they need an operation tomorrow and walk out with a 12-month watch plan instead. We’ve also seen the opposite — patients told for years to “just monitor it” who were already long past the point where MIS would have been ideal.

Test 1: Is your bunion symptomatic?

Pain when you walk, recurrent shoe pain, redness over the bump, deformity that’s actively getting worse. If you have at least two of those, the conversation is about when, not if.

Test 2: What does your X-ray angle say?

Weight-bearing imaging tells us the intermetatarsal angle and the hallux valgus angle. Mild-to-moderate angles are squarely in MIS territory. Severe angles past a certain threshold are still correctable but typically need a hybrid or open approach for stability.

Test 3: Are your health markers in range?

Smoking status, uncontrolled diabetes, and certain circulation issues meaningfully affect bone healing. None of those are automatic disqualifications — they just become part of the timing conversation.

If the answer is "not yet"

Most "not yet" patients leave with a 3-part plan: a wider toe-box shoe recommendation, a simple spacer to wear at night, and a check-back at 12 months. Bunion progression isn’t linear — some patients hold steady for a decade.

The fastest way to a real answer

The 90-second candidacy quiz on our home page is a starting point. The actual answer comes from a free 30-minute consult: weight-bearing X-ray, a look at your shoe wear pattern, five minutes with the screen showing your foot side-by-side with a corrected angle. You’ll leave with a clear plan or a clear “not yet.”