The things some women will do to fit into a beautiful pair of high-heel shoes. Apparently, a growing number of women are having their toes shortened or even completely removed, in order to make wearing stilettos a less-painful experience.

According to the American Podiatric Medical Association, eighty-seven percent of women have had foot problems from wearing uncomfortable or ill-fitting shoes, like high-heels. But while some give-up on the problematic footwear, others love wearing them so much they will appeal to surgical procedures such as shortening toes, receiving foot injections and even completely cutting off pinky toes in order to make walking in them bearable. “Unless you’ve been there, and you can’t find shoes, and you’re in pain, don’t judge,” Susan Deming, a patient who recently had one of her toes shortened, told Fox News. “I was having calluses, and just, all sorts of problems with my left foot.  And there finally was a solution.  There’s never been a solution before.” Some of Susan’s toes were longer than the others, making her left foot an entire size longer than her right foot, so she cut off about a centimeter off her second toe. “I’ve never felt this good about something I’ve done,” she said.  “If it’s vain, it’s vain.”

Photo: Markus Ram

But shortening toes is just one of the procedures women are turning to in order to make wearing uncomfortable shoes less painful. Other solutions include injecting collagen into the balls of the feet for added cushion, or completely removing the pinky to make the foot fit better inside the shoe. Dr. Nathan Lucas, a podiatrist in Memphis, says the number of women interested in surgical options to relieve the pain of wearing high heels has increased steadily, to as many as 30 patients a month in the last year. Although he doesn’t approve of this type of procedures unless there is a medical reason behind them, he does refer patients to doctors who do perform them.