Trigger Finger

What is hand surgery?

If your hand is impaired in any way, surgery may improve your condition. This type of very specialized surgery can treat diseases that cause pain and impair the strength, function and flexibility of your wrist and fingers. Surgery seeks to restore to near normal the function of fingers and hands affected by disease, injured by trauma or to correct abnormalities that were present at birth.

What hand surgery can treat

Trigger Finger: Condition that makes fingers or thumb difficult to move. It happens when tendons, or their protective sheath, around fingers or thumb swell up or thicken. Severe cases can “freeze” fingers in a flexed position.

If you have trigger finger, you might feel a little bump which makes it even more difficult for the tendon to easily glide through its sheath. Eventually it can lock your finger into a bent position.

It isn’t clear what causes trigger finger, but repeated or strenuous hand movement seems to play a part. And you’re more likely to get it if you have rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, or gout.

Who is a good candidate for hand surgery?

Patients with painful conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome, De Quervain’s tendinosis, triggrer finger and Dupuytren's contracture may be suitable candidates for hand surgery.

These procedures can be performed on people of any age and is a good option for you if:

• You do not have additional medical conditions or other illnesses that may impair healing
• You are a nonsmoker/ nonvaper
• You have a positive outlook and realistic goals for your hand surgery
• You are committed to following your plastic surgeon's prescribed course of treatment

In some conditions, hand surgery is necessary to treat wounds and injuries. Plastic surgeons are often involved in treating patients who come to the emergency room with severe hand trauma.