A Facelift for the Feet: When Cinderella Wears Designer Shoes

Cinderella Feet Like in the Fairy Tale — a Nightmare

From the Grimms' fairy tales we already know the story of the wicked stepmother who, without hesitating, cut off the false bride's heel and forced it into Cinderella's shoe.

In California the well-known saying — beauty is pain — now reaches an entirely new level of perversion. Although we already suspect that the pain threshold of the rich and beautiful in the USA is higher than in Europe, a new beauty trend leaves us more than speechless: in Beverly Hills, women voluntarily go under the knife to force their feet into especially extravagant high heels.

Matching Designer Feet for Designer Shoes

After the face, the décolleté, and the buttocks, plastic surgery has discovered an entirely new field of activity with the trend towards the designer foot. Fashion designers such as Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, or Jimmy Choo make it possible: they bring the female foot far more into the spotlight than was the case for a long time. But the higher the heel and the more pointed the last, the more obscure the demands placed on one's own feet become.

Perfect Ten, Model T & Cinderella — When Toes Go Under the Knife

According to a New York Times report, more and more American women with aching feet do not reach for more comfortable footwear. Instead, they present their favourite shoe shape to the plastic surgeon they trust and have their feet adjusted accordingly. By now, supply and demand for these bizarre cosmetic operations in the USA has led to a grotesque repertoire of plastic procedures called "Cinderella" or "Perfect 10".

But the supposedly fairy-tale names are deceptive, since they are the namesakes of far from minor surgical procedures. Behind the Cinderella operation lies the correction of a hallux valgus, in which the ball of the big toe is manoeuvred into the desired shape with the help of screws. If you opt for "Perfect 10", the surgeon shortens the toes by individual segments, while "Model T" clears the way for toe lengthening too. To all women's feet that have literally been walked flat after years of high-heel martyrdom, a fat implant promises new fullness. It almost seems as if even for the most outlandish shoe, the perfectly modelled foot can be found.

The Procedure

"The toes can be shortened by removing a piece of bone from the proximal phalanx, or lengthened with the help of a bone graft taken, for example, from the pelvis," says the Viennese specialist in plastic, aesthetic, and reconstructive surgery, Veith Moser. For up to one and a half shoe sizes (a maximum of one centimetre) more or less, the bone must be sawn or broken. His colleague, specialist Shirin Milani-Helletzgruber, adds: "Anyone who wants their toes narrowed can have either a tissue or a partial bone removal." In short: the bones are sawn apart and put back together. After the operation, the patient has to wear a bandage shoe with a firm sole for about four weeks and undergo weeks of physiotherapy. In my opinion this cosmetic operation is not only questionable but also dangerous. Creepy …

What Is a "Loub Job" or High-Heel Therapy?

Less invasive, but bizarre enough, is the so-called "Loub Job". It is a derivative of the term "Boob Job" (breast augmentation) and is named after Christian Louboutin, the designer of the super-expensive and coveted high heels with the red sole. In this "foot improvement", collagen or one's own fat is injected into the underside of the toes and the ball of the foot so that one can walk in very high shoes as if on a cushion, that is, pain-free.

Having Botox injected under the sole of the foot is a trend that, starting in the USA, is now coming to Europe too. When a party marathon is coming up, celebrities like to undergo "high-heel therapy" beforehand. By injecting the active substance botulinum toxin, the muscle is paralysed, because the nerve impulses are blocked and the muscle can no longer tense. "This means you no longer have any pain in your feet," explains aesthetics specialist Dr Afschin Fatemi.

Risks

The risks include wound-healing disorders, bone inflammation, or numbness of the toes. When you consider that it can take weeks to months before an operated foot is fully functional and able to bear weight again, it is hard to imagine women voluntarily putting themselves through such a procedure. The less invasive treatment also carries risks that should not be taken lightly. According to foot specialist Akbal Randhawa, fibrous nodules could form. The danger of infection would always exist too. "In the worst case it can spread to the lymph nodes and require an amputation," Akbal Randhawa explains to the Daily Mail.

What, according to media reports, has long since developed into a business in the USA has so far reached Europe only sporadically. Here, people usually have foot procedures carried out for medical reasons. Mathieu Assal, President of the Swiss Society for Foot Surgery and Medicine (SFAS), explains: "The patients who turn to us are primarily those confronted with a functional impairment. Purely aesthetic questions have rarely reached us so far. Foot procedures are so complex that we tend to advise against operations motivated solely by aesthetics." And many people have long-term problems with their feet even after medical procedures, without it being the surgeon's fault.

Conclusion

Our feet are a sensitive marvel, and not every woman has so-called "beautiful feet". The ladies who are naturally blessed with them can count themselves lucky. The ladies whose feet, due to a hallux or hammer toes, do not match the mainstream designer foot need not be impressed by it. What matters is the health of our feet, because they carry us for a lifetime, and that is why we should treat them well. And when you take the Louboutins, Jimmy Choos, Manolo Blahniks, or some no-name high heels out of the shoe rack for an occasion and take them out, it is best to tuck a pair of spare ballet flats into your handbag. Honestly: dancing the night away in high heels is hell. My advice: dance and walk barefoot. It relaxes you, encourages the natural rolling motion of the foot, trains the foot muscles, and looks sexy on top of that.

Your Christine