New Surgical Implant Helping Women With Foot Pain From High Heels
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new implant is helping people with foot pain avoid surgery.
It's a solution that could be especially popular for women who wear high heels and end up with achy feet.
The new implant acts like a shock absorber and is the latest synthetic cartilage.
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It's currently approved in the United States for the big toe, but doctors in Europe are also using it in patients suffering arthritis in other small joints in the hand and foot.
Doctors say high heels can cause all sorts of problems, one being osteoarthritis in the foot and toes.
"I would take off my shoes and just almost cry on my way to my car because it hurt so bad and it didn't matter what shoes I had on," said Kimberly Reitmajer.
Reitmajer, who wears mainly sneakers, has painful osteoarthritis in her big toe.
Until recently, her only option was surgery that would have left her without motion in her toe and a long recovery.
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Then Reitmajer's doctor told her about a new FDA-approved procedure using the Cartiva implant. It's synthetic cartilage that's made of the same material as contact lenses and inserted in joints.
"It attracts water, so it has a slippery feel to it, so it allows things to move freely," said Dr. John Early of the Texas Orthopaedic Associates.
It means patients don't lose toe motion and can even put weight on it almost immediately.
"A lot of happy patients, they're thrilled about the motion," said Early. "They get a significant decrease in the moving pain directly after surgery."
Reitmajer returned to her active lifestyle, pain-free, just days after her surgery.
"It's been a decision I've never regretted at all," she said.
The surgery usually takes about 30 minutes.
A Canadian study shows the implant has a 91 percent success rate in reducing pain and improving motion, and this could be expanding to be used in other areas.