Welcome to Our Practice!
Welcome to Weill Cornell Medicine – Vascular & Endovascular Surgery, Section of Podiatry, your experienced podiatrists in New York. We hope you find our website informative and helpful as you search for a New York podiatrist you can trust. We’re confident you’ll find an unmatched quality of care from the foot and ankle specialists at Weill Cornell Medicine. The faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine are proud to offer visits throughout New York City, as well as Virtual Visits from the comfort of your own home. We are dedicated to providing high quality podiatric services and results for all of our patients, in a safe and caring environment.
We know that foot pain is never normal. Bearing the brunt of your entire body’s weight, when your feet ache, your entire body aches. With proper diagnosis and treatment, most foot and ankle problems can be treated successfully. Weill Cornell Medicine – Vascular & Endovascular Surgery, Section of Podiatry will listen to your symptoms and provide you with an individualized treatment plan to return you to those activities you enjoy the most!
As you browse our website, check out our services page for the complete list of services we offer. We specialize in treating a full range of foot and ankle conditions, such as:
We also encourage you to look around our faculty, office and new patient pages to learn more about our doctors, payment policies and new patient procedures. Our patient education library boasts pages and pages of helpful information about foot and ankle symptoms, conditions and procedures.
Our doctors and staff take the time to listen to your concerns, and then use the latest treatments and technologies to treat them. Let Weill Cornell Medicine – Vascular & Endovascular Surgery, Section of Podiatry be your choice for podiatrist in New York for all of your foot and ankle needs.
Brachymetatarsal
(Short Toe)
What is it?
Brachymetatarsia is a fairly common condition in which one of the metatarsal bones of the foot is abnormally short, causing the appearance of a short toe. This most often affects the 4th toe and may occur on both sides (left and right feet). It sometimes affects more then one toe in the same foot. This can cause foot problems with the fitting of shoes and painful ambulation. It also can be very unsightly, and cause problems with children and adults showing their feet in public.
Why do I have it?
It is most commonly a genetic disorder (congenital abnormality), causing a premature closing of the growth plate of the metatarsal. Once the growth plate closes it fails to grow. The other metatarsals continue to grow around it, causing a short appearance of the toe.
It can also be caused by trauma to the growth plate as a child.
What can I do about it?
As for most foot deformities there are conservative and surgical options. Conservative cares consist of wearing comfortable shoes, wide and high toe boxes. Avoiding activities that aggravate the problem are also a conservative method.
There are two surgical approaches that we use to address this problem.
1. Bone Graft
This is done by creating a space in the metatarsal by breaking it, then inserting a bone graft (usually from a cadaver) into the space. This makes the metatarsal longer. This may involve 4-6 weeks on crutches and is a 1step procedure. This only is an option when the metatarsal involved is not drastically short. (This is determined by pre-op X-rays)
2. External Fixation
This is a 2 step procedure. Step #1 involves breaking the short metatarsal and the application of an external fixator (see pictures for details). Then you, the patient, gradually (and painlessly) lengthen the metatarsal about 1mm a day until the desired length. This usually takes about 4 weeks. We then have to wait while the bone heals and go back to the operating room for step #2 removal of the external fixator. The entire process takes on average 2 months. You usually can walk during this time.
The correct method for you is determined by your doctor, based on pre-op x-rays and individual expectations and your general health.
Click here to read an essay one of our patients wrote on how Brachymet surgery changed her life...
Our facility has recently been accredited by JACHO