The Laterality of the Surgical Correction of Forefoot Pathology

Lateral prevalence has not been traditionally attributed to the development and presentation of pathologic forefoot complaints. The objective of this study was to determine if a laterality prevalence exists for surgically corrected forefoot deformities. All cases performed at the Inova Fairfax Hospital Ambulatory Surgery Center over a 76-month period were reviewed and classified into the following categories: hallux abductovalgus deformity correction, hallux limitus deformity correction, specific digital deformity correction, neuroma surgery, and combinations of these categories (n = 1821). Our analyses indicated no laterality difference in the surgical correction of most common forefoot pathologies. A measure of all examined surgical corrections (hallux abductovalgus, hallux limitus, digital deformity, and/or neuroma) did not demonstrate a difference between the surgical correction of the right and left extremities (χ2 = 0.003; P = .94). There was also no significant difference in the surgical correction of the right and left extremities when studying the individual categories of any hallux abductovalgus correction (χ2 = 0.416; P = .52), any hallux limitus correction (χ2 = 2.050; P = .15), any digital deformity correction (χ2 = 1.251; P = .26), or any neuroma surgery (χ2 = 0.784; P = .38). Only the surgical correction of hallux limitus deformity without surgical correction of digital deformity or neuroma demonstrated a significant laterality with surgical correction of the right lower extremity being more common (χ2 = 4.600; P = .03). Level of Evidence: 2