How to Wrap your Foot after Bunion Surgery
by Dr. Joel W. Brook
Dr. Joel Brook is a board-certified podiatrist and foot and ankle surgeon at Dallas Podiatry Works in TX.
“Hi, my name is Jessica Gonzalez, and I’m Dr. Joel Brook’s medical assistant. I’m going to demonstrate on how to do your daily dressing changes after surgery.
First of all, you have your 4×4 gauze here. I’m going to get some betadine, which is your antiseptic, just to keep the germs away. I’ll apply some right around the incision area, which will be primarily, if you had a bunionectomy, your incision will be right around this area here.
Then you’re going to grab 3-4 4×4 gauze pads, just place it around the incision area, just like this.
You’re going to grab another 4×4, you’re going to simply undo it and make sure it’s positioned downwards and you’re going to wrap it around the big toe. This is just splitting the toe into a proper position.
You’ll grab your conforming gauze. Whenever you’re doing this you always want to make sure that you keep your foot at a 90 degree angle. If not, the bandage will get irritation here on your ankle area. You always want to start from your arch here and go inwards. The entire time, keep your foot at a 90 degree angle. You always want to make sure that you cover the heel at all times. Is this feeling too tight, Jordan? No, feels great – thank you.
Now, does that feel nice and snug? Yes.
Now, last step will be your ACE bandage. This here is your four inch ACE bandage, nice and clean. Whenever you start using your ACE bandage, you always want to make sure that you start off from around this area here, and that the velcro is facing upwards. If not, it’s going to be attached to the bandage and that’s just going to cause a mess. Same as before, go all across the foot. Again, you always want to make sure that you cover the entire heel.
Dressing changes will vary depending on what kind of surgical procedure you had done. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.”