Do pointe shoes in ballet damage your feet?

Question:

Do pointe shoes in ballet damage your feet?

I'm getting my pointe shoes next week, and I'm worried my feet are going to get really messed up.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It depends on how old you are when you get into pointe. Many studios start their ballerinas at age six or seven, while the bones are still growing. My teacher didn't start us until we were about thirteen, and even then she was a little nervous. If you start after you get your period, you should be fine, because your feet will stop growing soon after that and the bones will be fully formed.
Some tips to protect your feet are:
Experiment early on with toe pads. Professionals generally only use tape around their toes. I have tried this, it hurts like CRAZY. Gel pads are in style now; everyone says they are extremely comfortable. I tried them and hated them, because they are bulky and take up a lot of room in the shoe, making it more uncomfortable than it already is. If you get them make sure to try them on in the store with the pointe shoes so that you don't get too small a size. My personal favorite is the wool pad. It is just a thin half sock made of very soft wool that slips into the box of your shoe, and it so light and comfortable!
Make sure the brand of shoe you get fits YOUR foot, not your best friend's, not your mom's, not your teacher's. Bloch is very big right now- I haate it. It is made for a narrow foot, and my feet are wide with large spaces between the toes. They were horrible. They didn't fit and were hard to break in. (Although they did have a lovely cushy little gel sac in the bottom of the box to give you extra cushion.) Capezio Glize is a good brand to have, the shoes are fairly easy to break in, they are a nice color and they are pretty comortable (for me) because they have a wide box. My shoes are Sansha Recital. They are cheap, and come with an extra shank so that you can replace that rather than the whole shoe if you wear your shoes down quickly. I wore them once and they got to the stage where they are comfortably broken in, but not too soft, and you can still do more to break them in. I love them!
Never, I repeat NEVER wear someone else's pointe shoes. After a couple uses, the shoe forms to your foot, and if you wear someone else's shoes, they will pinch and squeeze most painfully, and you really could mess up your feet.
The first time you wear your shoes they will be incredibly stiff and probably slightly painful. It's ok. When you take them off, beat them up. Seriously! Because the heat from your foot will have transferred to the shoe, the glue (because that's what the box is, basically. Paper machie made of cardboard.) will be soft and pliable, like elastic. So, take the shoe off and bend it back and forth for a couple minutes. If you get Sansha, place the heel of your palm on the box, place your other hand over the first hand, and push until you hear it crack- before you wear it the first time. Or, you can take the shoe and smack it off the floor a few times =D
Just make sure the shoe fits and you have the proper equipment to cushion your feet, k? You'll be fine and on your way to being the next Anna Pavlova in no time!