Short answerIt may reduce pain a good deal, but the evidence is limited. One trial compared surgery with no surgery, and surgery has its own risks.
Probably helps a little
What it is
A bunion, or hallux valgus, is a bony lump at the base of the big toe, where the toe angles towards the others. Bunion surgery realigns the bone, most often by cutting it and moving it into a better position. This is called an osteotomy. Non-surgical care includes wider shoes, pads, splints and shoe inserts called orthoses.
What the research shows
included 25 trials with 1,597 adults. Only one trial, with 140 people, compared surgery with no treatment or non-surgical treatment. The other 24 compared one type of operation with another.
In that one trial, pain at 12 months was about 21 on a 100 point scale after surgery, compared with about 39 for people who had no treatment. This may be a clinically important reduction. Function was slightly better after surgery, about 75 compared with 66. Quality of life was little different. The certainty of the evidence was low.
The review was uncertain about the risk of further surgery and other side effects. It noted that complications such as wound infection or irritation from the metal fixings, needing more surgery, have to be weighed against the benefit.
Complex operations, with more than one cut in the bone, gave about the same pain relief as simple ones. Most trials had a high risk of bias.
of 209 adults, mean age 48 and mostly women, compared surgery, orthoses and waiting. After one year, pain and disability were lower in the surgery group than in the other two. Orthoses gave short term relief. At two years, pain was similar in all three groups, but the waiting groups had been offered surgery after one year.
Risks and effort
The trial recorded four surgical complications in the first year, including one recurrence of the bunion. Recovery takes weeks.
What usually works instead
Wider shoes, pads and orthoses are the usual first step. See Foot and Ankle for more.
Questions people ask
Will a bunion come back after surgery?
It can. One recurrence was reported in the first year in the Finnish trial.
Do orthoses fix the bunion?
Orthoses ease pain for a time but do not realign the toe. In the trial they gave short term relief.
Does a complex operation work better?
Not for pain, according to the review.
Sources
Select a source to read what the study or guideline found, in plain words, with a link to the original.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Next review due October 2028.
