If the shoe fits …

In an ancient bachelor game, the only qualification for potential brides was that their foot had to fit into a tiny glass slipper. In older versions of the fairy tale, Cinderella’s step-sisters took a butcher knife to their toes in a last ditch, useless, effort to make their foot fit.
In a perfect world, the glass slipper only fits the foot of Cinderella.
In the real world there is cosmetic surgery for trimming the toes of any step-sister until her feet fit into fashionable, narrow high heels, according to a recent article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
For the sake of better “toe cleavage,” as it is known to the fashion-conscious, today’s women, as in the ancient fairy tale, risk permanent disability, according to orthopedists and podiatrists interviewed for the article.
A survey of members of American Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Society revealed that half had treated patients with problems from cosmetic foot surgery. The organization is preparing a statement condemning the procedures, according to the organization’s executive director Rich Cantrall.
In the name of fashion, many women practice a form of the ancient Chinese custom of foot binding when they routinely subject their feet to shoes that are one to two sizes too small or perpetually wear high heels that cause serious foot, knee, pelvic, back, shoulder and jaw pain.
But if the shoe does not fit – especially, in this age of ultimate make-overs and Botox injections for smoothing out the wrinkles of time – why not have a toe job? “It’s no different than a nose job,” argue proponents of the procedure.
Theoretically, that may be true, but “you don’t walk on your face,” Dr. Rock Positano said. Positano is the director of the non-operative foot and ankle service at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.
The foot bears all the body’s weight when a person is standing, walking or running – sometimes for hours on end. Forcing the feet to bear that weight while cramped into the odd position required for heels, while wearing too small shoes or without the assistance of trimmed off parts of toes, can result in life-time crippling.
Too late, Sheree Reese realized that hard truth. Reese, professor of speech pathology at Kean University in New Jersey, wore high heels for years until her feet developed painful bunions. She finally submitted to the screaming pain in her feet and retired her heels – until her daughter announced her engagement – the then only thing Reese wanted was to “look good” walking down the aisle with her daughter. Her definition of looking good meant stiletto heels. She subjected her tender tootsies to the surgeon’s knife with disastrous results.
“The pain spread to my other toes and never went away,” Reese said.
Reese ignored the pain. She walked the aisle in a two-inch heel, changed into ballet slippers with special supports for the reception and settled into the rest of her life with unnecessary, self-inflicted foot pain.
No mention was made in the story that any of the guests at her daughter’s wedding raved about how great she looked.
“I really regret being worried about looking good for my daughter’s wedding,” Reese said.
Shades of the original version of the little mermaid. She gave up everything: her home in the bottom of the sea, mermaid tail and speech to get legs so she could walk with excruciating pain searing her every step. She endured the pain hoping the land prince would see how good she looked (she couldn’t talk after all), would fall madly in love with her and marry her.
He never noticed her as anything other than a beloved, silent servant. He married a land princess.
You too can live a fairy tale life of idealistic beauty. All you have to do is embrace and practice the latest painful procedures to alter your body so you look good in passing – to a bunch of people who really don’t care two bits about what you look like – as long as you notice how fantastic they look.
(Joan Hershberger is a reporter at the News-Times.)