Lapiplasty Bunion Surgery

Lapiplasty makes use of precise incisions and specialized tools to fully correct your bunion and stabilize your foot while minimizing the impact to healthy skin and tissue.

A special positioning tool is used to rotate and reposition the entire metatarsal back into its correct anatomical alignment, then hold it there securely, before any cuts to the bone are made. From there, a guide tool is used to ensure all necessary cuts to repair the unstable midfoot joint are precisely and optimally made.

Once this joint is repaired, another tool is used to compress and hold it together while low-profile, highly durable titanium plates are inserted to hold it in place permanently. Because the unstable joint that causes the bunion isn’t supposed to move, fixing it in this way will not have any noticeable negative effect on your ability to walk, run, or jump normally after you’ve fully recovered.

To ensure absolute correction, the entire procedure is completed with the assistance of in-surgery fluoroscopic guidance at multiple checkpoints throughout the process. Fluoroscopy is an imaging technique that uses X-rays to obtain real-time moving images of an object.

Most people do not require any casting after a Lapiplasty procedure. 

You should be able to return to weight-bearing activity very quickly, especially when compared to other procedures. Some people are back on their feet in a walking boot in as little as a few days, although others may need up to 2 weeks. You can expect to be back in your regular shoes in about 6-8 weeks.

For everyday walking during this period, a simple, low walking boot is normally used.

Although Lapiplasty is less invasive than many other types of surgical procedures, it’s still very important to follow all our post-operative instructions carefully. We’ll give you detailed guidelines for how and when you can return to various activities, and what you need to do to make sure your recovery is as fast and problem-free as possible.

Long-term results after Lapiplasty are extremely positive. Studies have shown that bunion surgeries that do not correct the metatarsal in three dimensions (which includes most conventional osteotomies) are up to 12 times more likely to lead to bunion recurrence than surgeries that do provide 3D correction (like Lapiplasty).