Bunions are definitely an inconvenience, but the amount of inconvenience and pain they cause varies from person to person. Making the decision to go through bunion surgery can difficult, especially if you arent sure if your bunion will get larger and more painful with time or not.
Consider the top 3 reasons that many people decide to go forward with the surgery.
Pain
Whether you have a small bunion that is torturously painful or a larger one that is more uncomfortable, you may want to go through bunion surgery to relieve consistent pain that is not eased by other means.
Some alternatives to surgery may be switching to wider shoes and not wearing anything that squeezes your toes together, or using different shoe cushion inserts to allow for more protection. When these options fail and you are in pain, then you may need the surgery. Even a little pain is difficult to endure on a daily basis.
Prevention
Bunions can get worse with time and can lead to more problems with other toes. For example, your big toe may eventually push underneath you next toe, which causes a hammer toe. You now have two problems instead of one, and the hammer toe can be quite painful.
Cosmetics
Lets face it. Bunions are not pretty! Many people will go through with the surgery simply because they do not like the look of their feet or feel extremely self-conscious in social situations where they have to remove their feet.
Also, if your bunion severely limits the type of shoes you can wear it can be difficult to find dress shoes and other types that fit correctly.
Bunion surgery is usually an out-patient process with little risk to your body, but it does require about a week to recover.