Nov 1: A bride has confessed how she had her little toe broken and the tendons snapped - so she could fit in her wedding shoes.
Stephanie Househam, 30, from Grimsby, had only ever been able to wear trainers after being born with a claw toe on her left foot.
But when she got engaged to partner David Pearson, 45, she decided to take drastic action and go under the knife.
She explained: “My toe didn’t touch the floor at all. It was quite embarrassing.
“It’s not very pretty - you could stick your finger underneath it and you’d still have a gap between your toe and your finger. “I always wore trainers, even on holiday on the beach. However I couldn’t exactly wear them when I was getting married! “But every pair of shoes I tried on it just would not fit - my toe literally hung out of the top of every shoe.”
Stephanie visited her local GP and explained the situation. “Because it was quite high up off the ground, I was forever banging it and catching it on the sofa,” she said. “I’d had enough, and I just wanted nice shoes for my wedding. “I explained everything to my GP and how I just wanted the option to go out and wear whatever shoes I wanted. “It was quite a quick process - it wasn’t long after that they sent me to the consultant.” Stephanie had the operation done on the NHS in November last year, though admitted she would have paid for it if she’d needed to.
Speaking about the procedure, she recalled: “I was asleep for about an hour and a half.
“They had to snap all the tendons and then they had to break the toe and slice it to stick the pin in there.
“It was quite painful - I think the most painful thing was the tendons, where they’d broken it. It sent a shooting pain up your foot.”
Afterwards Stephanie’s foot was black and blue, bruised all down one side and in-between her toes.
She had to wear a walking boot and was off work for six weeks.
Stephanie explained: “I had to have the boot on because the pin was sticking out of the toe, so I couldn’t wear an enclosed shoe. “During recovery the pin works its way out, so if I’d have put a normal shoe on, there would have been a barrier. “Every time you put your foot down you got a little blast of pain.
“I couldn’t return to work, because I work on a building site.” Stephanie had the boot off in January this year, five months before her summer wedding to David in July. When it came to shoe shopping, she tried on “loads” to find her perfect pair. She admitted that some people found it funny she’d gone to such extreme lengths to fit into bridal shoes.
“Everyone was laughing about it,” said Stephanie. “Just as I was getting put to sleep I said to the nurse, ‘The things you do for a pair of wedding shoes,’ and she was laughing her head off. “Everyone knew why; I just thought, I’m turning 30 and I’ve always had to wear trainers.
“No nice shoes, even if I wanted to go on a night out or a meal or something, I couldn’t wear nice girly shoes. “Putting a nice dress on with a pair of trainers doesn’t exactly look great! “It’s still not directly on the floor now, it’s still slightly up, but it’s nowhere near as bad as it was.
“They did say they can’t guarantee it’ll go flat to the ground, but it’s healing nicely now, I’m pleased. “Now I’ve bought so many more shoes - I’ve got so much more than what I had! It was definitely worth it.”
News.com.au