How I got rid of my hammer toes in just two weeks
I had surgery on my right foot three years ago to straighten two hammer toes. The second and the third. The surgeon cut a piece of bone out of each middle joint, pinned them straight with wire, and sent me home in a boot.
Six months later both toes bent back.
I am going to tell you what the surgery was actually like, why it failed, and what I use now instead. If you are considering the operation, read this first.
What a hammer toe does to you before you act
It started with a corn on top of my second toe. The kind you file down on Sunday night and forget about. Then the corn came back every week. Then the toe bent a little more, and the knuckle on top started rubbing raw against the inside of every shoe I owned.
By year two, it hurt to walk on a bare kitchen floor. There was a burning, zinging pain underneath the toes, like I was walking on the toenail instead of the pad. By mid-afternoon the ball of my foot felt like it was on fire.
I stopped wearing heels three years before the surgery. Then the boots. Then the flats with the low toe box. My closet shrank to three pairs: extra-wide walking shoes, slip-on clogs, and Birkenstocks.
My niece got married the summer before the operation. I sat through the whole reception in stretchy flats with my feet tucked under the chair so nobody would look down.
I cried in a shoe store once. An actual shoe store, in front of the teenager at the register, because nothing in my size would go on without that toe screaming.
At home I taped my toes to popsicle sticks at night because somebody on a forum swore by it. I went through a drawer full of gel caps and squishy spacers from the drugstore. Every one of them slid off within ten minutes of standing.
What is actually happening inside the toe
The toe bends downward at the middle joint because the small muscles and tendons that balance it have pulled out of sync. Years of tight shoes, a long second toe, or a bunion shoving everything sideways.
The tendons pull. The toe follows.
While the toe is still flexible, meaning you can push it flat with a finger, that bend is held by soft tissue, not locked bone. That one fact is the reason any of this worked.
Once one toe curls, it starts a chain reaction. The knuckle on top rubs your shoe and builds a corn that comes back no matter how many times you file it. The tip presses into the floor. You change how you walk. That loads your other toes, the ball of your foot, your knees, your hips. The ache that "came out of nowhere" in my right knee did not come out of nowhere.
And a flexible hammer toe hardens into a rigid one a little more each year. Once the joint locks, the only thing that straightens it is a surgeon.
I had the surgery. Here is what it was actually like.
My podiatrist gave me two choices. Surgery, or learn to live with it and come back when the toe goes rigid. I chose surgery.
The procedure is called a PIP arthroplasty. The surgeon removes a small piece of bone from the bent joint, straightens the toe, and holds it in place with a wire pin that sticks out the tip. For my third toe he fused the joint with a small screw instead.
I could not walk for the first week. Not hobble, not limp. Could not walk. My husband carried me to the bathroom. I wrapped my foot in a plastic bag to shower because the stitches could not get wet. The post-op shoe was a flat, rigid box that squeezed my swollen foot from every angle.
I could not drive for six weeks. I could not stand long enough to cook a meal. The swelling lasted three months. The pin sticking out of my second toe caught on the bedsheet every night and woke me up in a panic.
At the four-week mark they pulled the pin out in the office. No anesthesia. The nurse held my ankle and the doctor pulled. I heard myself yell. I had not yelled from pain since I was a child.
By month three the swelling went down and I looked at my toes. They were straight. I cried again, but this time from relief. I thought it was over.
Six months later, both toes bent back
It started with the corn. The same corn, in the same spot, on top of the second toe. I told myself it was a blister. I filed it down. It came back.
By month eight both toes were visibly curling again. The burning under the ball of my foot returned. The shoes I had just started wearing again stopped fitting.
I went back to the surgeon. He looked at my foot, looked at my chart, and said: "It happens. The muscles and tendons that bent the toe are still there after surgery. In some patients they pull the toe back."
"Some patients." Studies put it at 10 to 25 percent.
He offered to operate again. I said no.
I walked out. That was the last appointment I made with a surgeon.
What I found instead
I spent two months looking. I tried the gel caps again. I tried a rigid aluminum splint that strapped to one toe. It held the toe straighter, but it was hard plastic against skin, it showed through my shoe, and it only covered one toe at a time. My second and third both needed help.
Then a woman in a foot-problems group posted before-and-after photos of a soft gel straightener that pulled on over her whole forefoot like a thin sock. Her toes slipped through loops. A pad cushioned the ball of her foot.
It was the Askelo Hammer Toe Straightener.
The difference from everything I had tried is simple. The gel caps sit on one toe and slide off. The aluminum splint holds one toe but it is rigid and uncomfortable. This sleeves over the whole forefoot, so it stays put while you walk. Every toe gets its own loop. And a cushioned pad sits over the ball of the foot, right on the spot that burns.
I wore it for about thirty minutes in the evening while I watched the news. That was the whole routine.
What my podiatrist prescribes as two separate products
When I went back for a follow-up (different podiatrist, I was done with the surgeon), he sketched out what conservative treatment for a flexible hammer toe involves. He wrote down three things: something to hold the toe in a straighter line, stretching, and a metatarsal pad to take the load off the ball of the foot.
Three items. Two of them are products you buy separately, and most people only buy one.
That is the thing I did not notice at first about what I was already wearing. The loops hold the toes apart and straighter. The cushioned pad sits over the ball of the foot and takes pressure off the metatarsal heads, which is the exact spot that burned by mid-afternoon. It does both jobs in one piece, which is why the burning eased at the same time the rubbing did.
Nobody sold it to me that way. I worked it out from the sketch on his notepad.
Why it held up when the cheap ones didn't
The gel caps tore after a few wears, and that jelly smell never left the drawer. The Askelo is medical-grade silicone, no latex, no BPA. After months of daily wear mine looks the same as the day I opened it.
What changed, week by week
Day 1: The rubbing stopped. After years of every step reminding me my toe was there, one afternoon where I forgot about my foot felt enormous.
Week 2: The corn on top softened, because the knuckle was no longer grinding into my shoe. The burning under the toes eased off. The toe still bent when I took the straightener off. But for the first time since the surgery failed, it was spending its days held in a better position instead of curling tighter.
Month 1: I wore closed shoes to a dinner without counting the minutes. I wore sandals in July. I had not done that since before the surgery.
Month 3: With it on, the toe sits noticeably straighter. Even off, the bend is softer than it was. My new podiatrist said the flexibility had improved.
I talked to three women in the same foot-problems group who had the surgery. Two of them told me the toe bent back within a year. Both are wearing the Askelo now.
Surgery, gel caps, rigid splint, or this
Try it for 90 days
Wear it every day for three months. If your toe and your shoes do not feel any different, send it back for a full refund. You are not risking anything.
If your toes still bend when you press on them, that is your window. It closes a little every year. I wish I had found this before the surgery, not after.
What the clinical research shows
In a yearlong 2018 study, people who wore a toe-alignment device daily had less pain and a measurable improvement in the angle of the toe. A 2008 trial found a worn silicone separator beat a passive night splint for pain relief. A 2022 review confirmed both: pain relief within weeks, and improvement in toe alignment with consistent daily use. Results were stronger when combined with simple toe stretches.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Askelo is a wellness device and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual results vary. If you have diabetes, a rigid or severe deformity, or ongoing foot pain, consult your healthcare provider before use. Customer testimonials reflect individual experiences and are not guaranteed results.