Cosmetic Surgery to Fit into High Heels?

What women want, women get. Thanks to a new cosmetic surgery procedure, women can bring their love for high-heels to new heights, literally. At Beverly Hills Aesthetic Foot Surgery, the menu of services caters entirely to high-heel lovers’ foot, toe and heel imperfections, reports the Wall Street Journal.   There’s the trademarked “Cinderella Procedure” — a preventive bunion correction that makes feet narrower. The “Perfect 10! Aesthetic Toe Shortening” procedure invisibly trims toes that hang over the ends of sandals or have to be crushed into tight shoes. There’s also the “Foot-Tuck Fat Pad Augmentation,” in which fat from the patient’s abdomen is injected into the balls of her feet to provide extra cushioning for long days on high heels. The clinic’s founder, podiatrist Ali Sadrieh, said “it’s unrealistic to tell women to wear high heels” and that her procedures allow women to go about their days “pain-free.” Although little data is available to specifically track the number of cosmetic foot surgeries performed, evidence does show that ever since the skinny stilettos of Carrie Bradshaw and crew made their 1998 debut in “Sex and the City,” cosmetic foot surgery took off as a growing trend and has continued to show firm staying power. For this reason, some refer to this growing epidemic of cosmetic foot surgery as the ‘Sex and the City’ Effect.     While bunion surgery can cost $5,000 and is usually considered standard podiatric care, and thus covered under insurance, toe shortening ($500-$5,000 per toe), toe slimming ($1,800) and adding padding to the bottom of feet ($500 and up) are considered cosmetic procedures and not covered.  With a downward-spiraling economy, unemployment on the rise and job cuts happening daily, are those slender, strappy heels really worth spending $5,000 and a shaven toe to fit into? To each her own.