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Health Matters: Varied treatments for a bunion

ESCANABA — Another reader asks “My mother has really bad bunions. Her big toe is sitting on top of the other toes. It looks terrible and causes her pain. My bunion is really mild. Is surgery the only treatment?” Dr. McLean responds: As recently discussed, bunions can lead to a variety of complaints, from a deformed second toe to low back pain. Certainly, bunions can cause pain over the bump on your foot, as is predictable. That is an essential component of this common deformity, a bony prominence at the base of the big toe. Shoes aren’t made to fit this bone ‘poking’ out of ...

Health Matters: Dermatoporosis – A new but emerging diagnosis

ESCANABA — America is aging, with more people becoming “senior citizens” than ever before. The U.S population is older today than it has ever been. And with these years come certain inevitable concerns, illness and disease being chief among them. Thoughts will typically turn to osteoporosis and the potential for broken bones which occur too easily in this population. But other systems in the body are affected by the passage of time. Usually given only casual thought (except for the cosmetic effects, of course), changes to our skin are significant. Greater attention has been ...

Health Matters: Early diagnosis of artery disease is rare

ESCANABA — The years are hard on the harly diagnosis of artery disease rareuman body. Examples of this fact are plentiful, from chronically aching knees to the wrinkled skin of our later years, there being many consequences to the passing years. Some of these changes are blatantly obvious, like aging skin to gray hair, there for all the world to see. But also judge: our culture is fixated on youth, little weight given to the wisdom provided by time. Some manifestations to our health are not so obvious. One of the most serious but also best hidden is the reduction in blood flow to all ...

VA offers tele-benefits appointments weekly

IRON MOUNTAIN — The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) Detroit Regional Office in partnership with the Iron Mountain VA Medical Center and its community-based outpatient clinics offers tele-benefits calls each Monday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET to answer VA benefits questions. VBA can assist veterans and their caregivers, survivors, or dependents with filing a VA disability claim, checking claim status, answering PACT Act questions, verifying benefits or amount letters, requesting forms or letters, and helping dependents and survivors with inquires. The VBA Detroit Regional Office ...

Health Matters: Hallux varus: A bunion in reverse

ESCANABA — Bunions are part of the American lexicon, a term used with great comic effect in numerous shows and movies. Exactly what it is may be unclear to many, but most Americans at least realize it is some kind of foot deformity. Various misconceptions exist as to the specifics of a bunion, but it is a common development, with a third of our senior population afflicted. But this treatise is not a discussion of the ubiquitous bunion. With this deformity, the big toe slides gradually over towards the lesser toes, with a bony prominence developing at the base of the great toe. But ...

Health Matters: Diabetes and depression

ESCANABA — Modern humans are prone to a host of maladies. One of the most common and potentially debilitating diseases is diabetes. It is an unusual condition in that there is a great variety of manifestations resulting from the condition, with numerous organs potentially affected. Most have heard of the vision and kidney problems. Then there are the complications to nerves and blood vessels leading too often to infection and amputation of the feet. Diabetics are more likely to have a heart attack or stroke, as well as a reduced ability to fight infections. And newer research has ...