Hammertoe surgery: waist resection of the proximal phalanx, a more simplified procedure.

A technic for correcting hammertoe and other toe deformities by waist resection of the proximal phalanges of the toes effectively corrected these conditions in 95 patients and 466 toes. This procedure can be done quickly and easily with low morbidity. Through a very short incision over the waist of the proximal phalanx, a subperiosteal resection is carried out which permits settling of the resected bone ends together within the periosteal tube, resulting in bony union. The proximal phalanx is effectively shortened and the imbalance of the tendon length to the bony arch, which originally produced these deformities, is thereby corrected.