The main treatment method for congenital syndactyly and polydactyly deformity is surgery, and the specific treatment methods are described as follows.
One: The best time for surgery for congenital polydactyly deformity is after the age of 1. For a few cases that require a longer period of observation of hand function to ensure the preservation of the correct fingers and the removal of the accessory fingers, the interdigital soft tissue can be incised, and the skin can be extended in a Z-shaped manner or a full-thickness skin graft can be performed. Polydactyly is a common deformity, often coexisting with deformities such as brachydactyly and syndactyly, and is more common in the thumb and little finger.
Two: The main treatment method for congenital syndactyly deformity is surgery, which involves separating the two fingers that are fused together. After the fingers are separated, there is often not enough skin to repair the wound left after the separation, so skin grafting is required. At the same time, the design of the surgery is very important; improper design can not only increase the area of skin grafting but also affect the appearance and even the function of the hand.
Three: Precautions for the surgery of congenital polydactyly deformity
1. Within the first 24 hours after surgery, due to reasons such as anesthesia and the surgery itself, the child may have some crying and fussing; however, generally, after the initial 24 hours, as the pain from the wound subsides or disappears, the child will completely return to normal. To prevent infection, it is common to administer antibiotics intravenously for 3 days after surgery for anti-inflammatory treatment. If the intravenous catheter is accidentally dislodged after surgery, it is completely acceptable to no longer administer intravenous fluids and instead use oral antibiotic syrup for anti-inflammatory purposes.
2. Generally, you can be discharged and go home 3 days after the surgery.
3. Since the hand is wrapped with a cast bandage, there is no need to change the dressing before removing the incision sutures.
4. The incision sutures are usually removed about 14 days after surgery, and the removal of the sutures generally needs to be done under general anesthesia (but without tracheal intubation), so it is necessary to make an appointment with the doctor and be on time at the ward at 8 o'clock in the morning on the day of removal, and the child should be fasting and drinking water after 2 o'clock at night the day before. After the sutures are removed, the child will be observed in the recovery room for a while, and can go home after full recovery.
5. For simple duplication deformities, once the surgery is done, the treatment can be terminated; but for more complex duplication deformities, in the long term after surgery, there may be conditions such as osteophyte formation on the radial side of the thumb, bony spur formation, thumb deviation deformity, incision scar hyperplasia or contraction, and sometimes for these secondary deformities, further surgery may be needed for repair.
IV. The Problem of General Anesthesia for Polydactyly Surgery
For children with polydactyly, surgery must be performed under general anesthesia, which is an unavoidable matter. Many parents are worried about general anesthesia, mainly worried about whether general anesthesia will affect the child's intelligence. As a kind of anesthesia technology, general anesthesia of course has certain risks, such as aspiration, tongue drop, laryngospasm, and so on before and after surgery and during the surgery process. However, these situations can be avoided with the continuous improvement and improvement of anesthesia technology; especially during the surgery process, the anesthesiologist will closely monitor the child to ensure that there will be no hypoxia. Therefore, at present, general anesthesia surgery is very safe, and there is no need to miss the best treatment opportunity due to the worry that anesthesia will affect the child's intelligence.
V. The Problem of Scars After Surgery
Some careful parents may even worry about the problem of incision scars after surgery. Firstly, hand scars generally do not easily become hypertrophic scars; secondly, at present, surgeons generally choose very fine nylon threads or absorbable sutures for detailed suturing. Therefore, the scars after surgery are generally not very obvious, and as the child grows older, the scars will gradually become less obvious.