Left Foot Tophi Study with Photographs

These photographs of the left foot show tophi before and after treatment, as part of my Feet Tophi series.

Purpose of Left Foot Tophi

My intention is to make Gout Victims aware that they must stop ignoring high uric acid. Instead, they must seek uric acid treatment from a qualified health professional. So this page supports the Purpose of GoutPal.com in encouraging gout sufferers to work with their doctors towards gout recovery. But if you’re not a Gout Victim, see other plans for working with health professionals.

Left Foot Tophi Introduction

This is a shocking case report of a 75-year-old Caucasian man. As well as this large ulcerated tophi lump on his left foot, the patient had right foot tophi and left thumb tophi. It is not clear from the case study why he left his gout untreated so long. The report speaks of the patient intentionally stopping allopurinol treatment 4 months earlier. However, tophi of this magnitude take far longer than 4 months to develop. It suggests that allopurinol treatment was below acceptable dosage. This is a common problem. Because it causes non-compliance as patients lose confidence in the medication.

Though my gout never got this bad, I had to argue the facts with doctors before getting sufficient allopurinol to achieve safe uric acid levels. Be warned! Because you might have to take control of your treatment. Then insist on appropriate uric acid lowering treatment to bring uric acid down to 5 mg/dL or below.

Left Foot Tophi Study

In this gout study^[1], the patient attended Emergency Department after a tophus on his left foot became painful for 5 days, then eventually burst. As well as the other tophi mentioned earlier, the patient had completely lost mobility of the first joint of his left foot.

X-rays revealed total destruction of the first joint, and amputation of the whole left foot was considered. Fortunately, surgeons attempted removal of damaged tissue, and thorough clean of the affected area first. After 6 weeks, all ulcers healed completely, and the patient remained symptom-free six months later, except that mobility in the big toe never recovered.

Caution: Shocking Gout Image (click for details)

In the discussion of the case, the authors note:

Tophi are typically found on the helix of the ears, on fingers, toes, wrists, and knees, on the olecranon bursae [elbow], on the Achilles tendons and also rarely on the sclerae, subconjunctivally, and on the cardiac valves [eyes and heart]. They can cause pain and dysfunction and are rarely associated with ulcerations, bone fractures, tendon and ligament rupture, carpal tunnel and other nerve compression syndromes.

Next, you can see other parts of the body that are affected by gouty tophi in the tophi guidelines.

Leave Left Foot Tophi to browse the Tophi guidelines. Or return to Step 6 of your GoutPal Plan for Gout Victims.

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Common Terms: foot, tendon