High heel shoes can create long term foot problems.

I don't know why all you beautiful women out there have to destroy your feet by wearing high heel shoes. Somewhere in our society, we (no one ever knows who those we are) placed in your minds that the only way to look beautiful was to wear a shoe that made your foot crooked and forced you to walk on heels made out of pencils.
OK... OK...! Before you beat me up for all of those women, and who knows maybe some men, that refuse to give up their heels, we can compromise.
First, let's discuss the damage that high heel shoes can potentially cause the foot.
1: They place to much pressure on the ball of the foot. Our feet were designed to walk on soft grass, sand, flowers, etc. until we thought we would eat the fruit from that forbidden tree. As a result, we now walk on surfaces made of concrete, asphalt, tile, linoleum, etc. So our feet take a beating. Our entire foot from toes to the heel were designed to support a certain amount of our bodies weight on the surfaces we walk on. Someone wearing heels places more weight (called ground forces) on the front of the foot which can lead to fat pad atrophy, painful bones in the ball of the foot, and yes, those dreaded hammertoes and bunions.
2: It shortens the posterior muscles of the calf which help us walk. By constantly keeping your heel higher than the front of the foot, this shortens the muscles in the back of the leg which can lead to painful conditions like plantar fasciitis and tendonitis or tendonosis of the Achilles tendon.
What to do. Well if you feel you must wear heels, limit their use. Wear them only on special occasions like parties and important business meetings. If you work in an office or sales, wear supportive shoes as much as possible and wear the heels when meeting with others in the office or on sales calls.
For the best biomechanical health of the foot, wear a heel no higher than an inch-and-a-half and a totally enclosed shoe as much as you possibly can.

"The journey of life is taken one step at a time... none of them should be painful." G.M. Barclay, DPM, AACFAS