Open Bone Biopsy - Great Toe

I had an open bone biopsy on my great toe 3 weeks ago now, I went in for the operation walking fairly ok, and now I can not walk on it at all Is this normal? The bone biopsy was to look for osteomyelitis (chronic) which has since been diagnosed. The trouble all seemed to start two weeks in to the surgery when the bandages were removed. My foot looked great for one day, and then it just began to swell and turn various shades of purple and black with itchy red areas. The worse thing is the pain in my big toe - it feels like there is a piece of broken glass or hot needles in it, and of course if I try to walk and weight bear on it, it just makes me wince with pain. I just don't know if this is normal as I suppose there are holes in my toe which need to heal. Is there anyone out there who has been through the same experience, as I feel absolutely awful and very worried.

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

Well, this is likely to occur due to wound infection or due to osteomyelitis or both. If the wound appears to have healed well otherwise, the latter is more likely a possibility. Other possibilities that would need to be rule out are internal bleeding, vascular occlusion, gangrene etc. It is best advised to get this evaluated by your orthopedician for diagnosis and appropriate management.
Hope this helps.

Take care!