Surgical shoes are commonly prescribed by orthopaedic surgeons and rheumatologists. The shoes include both bespoke surgical shoes, which are specially designed and fitted, and "comfort shoes," which are commercially made soft leather or suede shoes and are cheaper to prescribe. Comfort shoes usually cost 40% less than bespoke shoes and appear more cosmetically acceptable to the patient.All patients need to be reassessed before repeat prescription to ascertain their ability to put on and remove the shoes and to note their acceptance of the shoes' appearance. Many patients now wearing bespoke footwear have deformities that are amenable to the wearing of comfort shoes. Patients, methods, and resultsNinety eight patients were prescribed and fitted with shoes through the NHS at the General Hospital, Nottingham, from January 1985 to December 1986. Two to three years after the original prescriptions patients were interviewed at home by two trained female interviewers. The patients were asked about their compliance, how often they wore the shoes, and whether there were any specific and general problems in wearing them.