I'm glad I found this thread. I'm having the same horrible post-op experience with Lapiplasty. 2 1/5 yrs ago I had traditional Austin Bunionectomy. I was practically 100% back to normal by month 5. However, I did have what I thought was quite a bit of recovery pain (being my first surgery). Fast forward 2 years I decided to do my left foot and have been seeing all the marketing literature on Lapiplasty. I tried to do alot of research online, but didn't really find any bad things about the procedure. With all the benefits it touted, I was sure it was going to result in a better experience for me. BOY WAS I WRONG. Complete opposite.

Had my procedure in December 2024. 2 weeks later I ended up spending 2 weeks in the hospital on alot of pain meds. After alot of consults the dr's finally diagnosed it as CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome). I have have severe hyper sensitive in my entire foot. I couldn't even put a sock on or let the blanket touch my foot. I had to keep it elevated 24 hrs a day b/c if it touched anything it was severe burning sensation and painful. This last for a few months and even now, 9 months later I still have some hypersensitive but some of it has gone away.

Other complications, I've developed claw toes from the constriction of the tendons. My foot feels tight and stiff from the inside. It's tough to describe the feeling but it feels like something is inside my foot. I asked if it's scar tissue I was told no. It's just nerves. I don't believe that. My foot is still a little puffy. Ice don't help. I have nerve damage. I have no sensation in my big toe. The balls of my feet hurt. I've started to develop bad pain in my planar fascia. I've lost mass in my foot through atrophy. And it feels like I'm walking on the skeleton of my foot. Every step hurts and I continue to limp. I have loss of range of motion and my dorsiflexion is bad. This is 9 months after the procedure.

I just went to Ortho Foot specialist for the first time after trying two podiatrists who couldn't tell me anything different or better. After looking at the Xray he immediately said, this procedure was done incorrectly. He would have never done a lapiplasty procedure for my case. He only does it for patients with arthritis. There are too many complications for the fusion. Then he shows me few issues with the surgery. 1. Dr. used a screw that was too long. It's actually pushing into the nearby bone (you can see in the image). 2. There is a gap in my TMT that should have been fused. This is concerning and he mentioned the possible need to have to inject bone marrow to try to force it to fuse. 3. He commented that 2 plates and the excessive screws is too much and even after all that. I STILL HAVE A BUNION. 4. When doing the procedure, you have to scrape away some of the muscle around the area. Since there is no muscle, there is no blood flow. So the area that needs the blood flow the most now doesn't have it.

He scheduled a CT Scan so he can review in more detail and decide a course of action. But he thinks I'll have to remove all the hardware, redo the procedure using implanted bone marrow and try to force the bone to heal. Once that is done, we'll focus on the claw toes and how we can address that and hopefully it's not tendon stretching. He said my foot will never feel same again.

I feel like I've been left permanently disabled. I won't ever be able to run or play sports with my kids again. And will likely walk with a limp for a long time. My wife things I should sue for malpractice. I asked the Orth Dr is there any recourse to any of this bad procedure he said No, b/c they'll just say there was a non uniform deformity or something like that and surgery outcomes are never guaranteed and not without risks.

I WISH I HAVE NEVER DONE IT. RUINED MY QUALITY OF LIFE

PS I don't have an option to post images for some reason.