SOUTHPORT, N.C.  —  After battling bunions for years, a new type of foot surgery changed a woman’s life.

• Vicki Wilson, a Virginia resident looking to retire to Southport, dealt with bunions for about 15 years while working as a home caregiver for her parents
• According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, about 30 percent of people over the age of 65 have a bunion
• Surgeon Joseph Kibler says a newer surgical procedure can use titanium plates to re-stabilize and secure the joint, rather than shave it down

Vicki Wilson, a Virginia resident looking to retire to Southport, dealt with bunions for about 15 years while working as a home caregiver for her parents.

“It was excruciating pain,” Wilson said.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, about 30 percent of people over the age of 65 have a bunion. It’s a bone deformity at the base of the big toe.

Wilson said doctors in Virginia proposed a surgery that would shave down the bunion.

“They were going to cut the bone, just for looks,” Wilson said. “I mean I guess they didn’t care how. They just wanted to shave that bunion off.”

She said it would have taken about six to eight weeks to walk without assistance, and a seven month total recovery time. While working in home-care and becoming a certified nurse assistant, this was time Wilson did not have. But, the pain eventually became so unbearable she had to stop her work as a CNA.

In Southport, she found podiatric surgeon Joseph Kibler, who suggested Lapiplasty. It's a newer surgical procedure that uses titanium plates to re-stabilize and secure the joint, rather than shave it down.

“The way that we solemnly fixed the bone allows me to feel confident and get my patients back walking,” Kibler said. “That’s important, especially for some of my older patients who have a tough time staying off of their foot for two months.”

He said patients, like Wilson, are back walking in a protective boot in a week. According to Kibler, the retainment rate for the titanium plate method is 97 percent compared to the older method's 70 percent retainment rate.

Wilson, four months out from her surgery, said she is ready to get the other foot done in October.

“It takes time, but I’m not in pain,” Wilson said. “That’s the biggest thing.”