Cryosurgery is the most modern and, subsequently, common treatment option for Morton’s neuroma. This treatment is best known for being minimally invasive and clinic-based with a high success rate.
This procedure uses incredibly cold temperatures to selectively destroy neuroma tissue. The main purpose of the procedure is shrinking down the surrounding nerve tissue, in order to disrupt the blood supply flowing throughout the damaged surrounding tissue.
Cryosurgery is, interestingly enough, an injection-based technique. Since it’s injection based, patients don’t have to worry about having long recovery times after having the procedure done.
How cryosurgery works
Cryosurgery mainly involves the use of what’s known as a cryoprobe. The tip of the cryoprobe is shaped into a 6 to 10 millimeter ice ball, which reaches temperatures as low as -58 degrees Fahrenheit.
When inserted into the surrounding nerve tissue, it destroys the nerve tissue there by causing a lot of vascular damage to the nerve’s sheath capillaries. It breaks down the myelin sheath and degenerates the nerve’s axon.
Although it destroys damaged nerve tissue, cryosurgery always leaves the nerve’s essentials, the perinerium and epineurium, intact. That subsequently prevents any other stump neuroma from forming on the foot.
During the recovery process, the affected nerve starts regenerating again, typically between 1 to 3 millimeters a day. It takes several weeks for the nerve axon to completely regenerate.
Benefits of Cryosurgery for Morton’s neuroma
People with Morton’s neuroma choose cryosurgery for its fast results and pain relief. Many people who have the procedure done feel immediate results after treatment. The long lasting pain relief from cyrosurgery is said to originate from the reduction of neural oedemas and nerve sheath fibrosis from Morton’s neuroma.
Although cryosurgery is considered a ‘last resort’ treatment for people with Morton’s neuroma, it helps people reduce the pain they feel from their Morton’s neuroma. Most people feel completely relieved of their foot pain, while others feel no pain after a few weeks of recovery.
It also helps that cryosurgery isn’t a surgically invasive procedure. People who turn to cryosurgery are typically able to return to work in as little as 48 hours. The side effects from the surgery amount to post-surgery bruising in the forefoot for a few days. After that, however, the recovery process is pretty straightforward for most people.
Dr. Ian S. Goldbaum is a Podiatric Physician and Surgeon serving patients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.
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