unsure if arthritis or not?

[lilmisssunray]

Hi well im 29 and when i was 20 i fell over and hurt my left foot i couldnt put any pressure on it at all but i didnt g to the doctors i had a newborn to look after and ended up dragging my foot around until it healed yes i know not the best idea! when i was 21 i went out for my birthday and fell twice my left foot again this time i went to hospital they said i had a fracture and put of pot on. When i had the pot off they said they made a mistake and it wasnt fractured so i dont know. What i do know is that near my left big toe i must have some tissue damage or something because i couldnt feel anything there. well getting to the point i have big feet im a size 9 and my big toes are quite abit larger than the rest of my toes so i find things hard to judge im quite often tripping of my big toes especially my left one and ive often banged my big toe. Since hurting it when i was 21 i cant bend my big toe on my left foot and its now quite abit bigger than my other big toe. The right big toe i can bend and everything no problem but my left one i find it hard to bend and its swollen also when my feet get cold my left big toe gets numb and i cant feel anything in it. For my job i do alot of walking and im finding that my toe is getting more and more painful and more stiff and swelling up more also i have hard skin at the side maybe from the way i walk as sometimes i try to avoid putting pressure on it. I was wondering why my big toe is like this? is it arthritis maybe caused by damage from before?. I have shown a picture and in it my left big toe is bigger than my right one also at the joint it is slightly purple and seems to have a knobbly appearance. has anyone any ideas please? thank you for reading !

[carolanivey]

Whatever you do, don't go to a podiatrist. See an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in feet and ankles. A podiatrist might help you with therapy and shoe inserts that might help, but if one starts talking about operating, get out of there and go to a surgeon.

My (very uneducated) guess is that you either had a fracture in the past, or soft tissue/ligament damage that caused scar tissue to build up, which can lead to the tingling and numbness when it presses on the nerves.

[4Maddie44]

Wow well done in posting a photo of your tootsies.  What does your doctor say is the problem?