58-year-old Jo has always been on her feet. When she wants to get some exercise, she plays tennis. For work, she developed a successful home staging business before becoming a professional background actress. For more than 15 years, Jo lived with bunions on both of her feet. At first, she managed the painful and progressive condition using custom shoe inserts, but when she was no longer able to play tennis without pain, she knew she needed to find a more effective solution¹.

Bunions occur when unstable joints in the mid foot slide out of place. Almost 25% of Americans suffer from the condition and it often runs in families²,³. What many think of as a simple cosmetic issue is actually a complex deformity that can disrupt any part of a patient’s daily routine⁴. Jo was forced to stop playing tennis and she could no longer enjoy sightseeing while traveling anymore. She also had trouble playing the piano because she could not press down on the pedals with her foot without experiencing what she described as excruciating pain.

“Once my bunions started to worsen, I had to change almost everything I was doing,” Jo explained. “While planning my wedding I was excited to wear a beautiful pair of designer shoes, but I couldn’t fit into them. It felt like I couldn’t wear any of the shoes I liked.”

Jo knew about traditional procedures to correct bunions, but she was hesitant to seek treatment. Studies have shown high variability with up to 78% recurrence^5,6*. When the bunion on her right foot started to form a hole in her shoe, she knew it was time to act. After visiting a local podiatrist, she was referred to Dr. Bradley Lind of Foot & Ankle Specialists of the Mid-Atlantic in Harrisburg, North Carolina. Dr. Lind told her about Lapiplasty® 3D Bunion Correction®, an alternative procedure that uses a patented series of titanium plates to correct the bunion in all three dimensions⁷. The surgery also addresses the cosmetic bump on the side of the big toe. A few weeks after her initial consultation appointment, Jo underwent Lapiplasty® on her right foot. After successfully recovering from her first procedure, she had her left foot corrected.

“Everything about my recovery felt simple,” Jo revealed. “I followed Dr. Lind’s instructions and was almost never in pain. When I felt discomfort it was easy for me to manage.” During her recovery, Jo was able to watch some of her favorite shows, but she was not on the couch for long. Only four weeks after surgery, at her surgeon’s clearance, she was able to travel to New York City, where she explored Times Square while wearing her walking boot.

“We try to take a walking tour in every new city we visit while traveling,” Jo stated. Following her successful surgeries, Jo has been able to return to the lifestyle she loves. She completed a trip to Portugal, Germany and Spain in August 2022 and already has plans to go to Chile. She also began participating in several new acting projects, securing background roles and started working on new projects for her background acting, such as Showtime’s George & Tammy and the upcoming feature film, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

“As an actor, there are often 12-hour work days where you have to be ready and on your feet,” she said. “I would not be able to do this work if I still had bunion pain.” When she worked on HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones, she was in a stadium filled with other background actors and they had to quickly move to different locations in the venue. “It requires a lot of physical activity,” she noted.

One piece of advice Jo would give to others considering undergoing Lapiplasty® would be to take into account how their life might change if they no longer had to deal with daily bunion pain.

“Dr. Lind is an amazing surgeon and a great guy,” Jo remarked. “There have been several people on my tennis team that I have referred to him. Every patient is different, but I had such a great experience with my surgeries!”

Lapiplasty® is a surgical procedure. Only a surgeon can tell if Lapiplasty® Procedure is right for you. This experience is unique and specific to this patient only. Individual results may vary depending on age, weight, health, and other variables. There are risks and recovery takes time. For more information about recovery from the Lapiplasty® Procedure, see the recovery information and discuss the post-surgery recovery process with your doctor. Risks include infection, pain, implant loosening and loss of correction with improper bone healing. For more information on benefits, risks and recovery, visit www.Lapiplasty.com.