basically for both those questions it's something that should be what feels right.
a second operation may be very much wanted by the time he is 12 or 13, but he also may have grown into it more. So just wait and see how the finger develops.
My pinky on my right hand shared a knuckle as the extra pinky. They removed it when I was a year old. That finger is permanently curved and little. For a year or two during my teens I got all self conscious about it and got to thinking seriously about getting it fixed, then I came to my senses and realized it's not that big a deal, and I'm really the only one that notices it. Now, I ended up needed a second surgery after all to fix some nerve stuff but that was purely a functional surgery, not to fix the shape or anything.
If when he gets to be 12 or 13 the digit is very obviuosly deformed and affecting your son mentally, I'd very much so consider looking into a surgery. Make sure he knows everything about it and has a major say in the surgery.
When to tell him? Well, if he's old enough he's complaining about the look of the finger now thinking it's broken, you should let him know what is really up with it. Show him pictures if you have them from before the surgery. He may only be 4 but they've got alot going on upstairs. He deserves to know and not think his poor little finger is broken.
~Kirstin.
jmmommy
Unregistered User
(2/26/04 11:20 am) Reply
reply
Hi! My son, who is 11 months old, just had his first surgery to have one of his extra thumbs removed (he has and extra thumb on each hand,the 2 thumbs on each hand are stuck together, they're not like two distinct thumbs). He'll have the other one removed in a couple months. His doctor said that they would decide when he was about 6 or 7 if it needed extra surgery due to bending. It didn't sound like he thought it was an option, just something they would do. I'm not sure I'll want to put him through any more surgeries, so I guess we'll wait and see how it looks. The doctor said it was unlikely that they will need to do another one, but it was just one of the possibilities. I was born with the same thing but just on my left thumb. I had my surgery when I was 7. My thumb is slightly bent, but it's not too bad, I don't think it would have been worth having another surgery. I am pretty self conscious about my thumb, I find I try to hide it sometimes. But I'm not going to do that anymore, because I don't want my son to feel like it's anything to be ashamed of. And I really don't think most people notice it, it's really only noticeable to me since I know about it. Anyways, hope to hear from you soon!
Re: Second op
Thank you for your replies and insights! They make good sense. Sometimes you just have to get anothers' opinions although the answer might seem obvious
Also you get more credability because you've been through this personally.
Extra Digit
I have been searching the internet trying to find information and I saw your postings and thought maybe you could help me with some questions.
I have an 8 month old daughter with an extra thumb on her left hand. It is a seperate digit, but has bone in it and it sticks out of the side of her hand. We want to have surgery to remove it, but I cannot find out anything about the procedure and how to find a good surgeon.
I noticed you have already gone through this, so do you have any suggestions?
My biggest thing with the surgery is it an in hospital procedure that requires overnight stay?
surgery
Hello! My son's surgery was outpatient. He was only at the hospital for about a total of 4 hours!! We were told to get there at 6:30am for registration, his surgery was scheduled for 7:30 (although it was closer to 8 when they actually took him to the OR), and we were on our way home shortly after 10am!! We were surprised it was so quick, we thought they might want to keep him for a few hours after the surgery to monitor him, but they said it wasn't necessary. Our pediatrician gave us a referral for the hand surgeon. Good luck!
Thank you
Thank you for the information, I am glad to hear it is an outpatient procedure.
We met with a surgeon 2 weeks after she was born, but I was a little overwhelmed at the time and didn't think to get information about the procedure, as he said we need to wait 1 year anyway. Now he doesn't take our insurance so we need to find another surgeon.
If you don't mind, what was the recovery time like for him to heal? I wanted to wait till the summer was over so she can play without having to worry about bandages and stuff.
Op
It was unbelivable, he was in surgery for like 30-60 minutes. After that we only had to wait for him to wake up. When he woke up, it was like nothing had happened. He didn't hurt and we just took him home.
Just make sure to keep the bandages dry. My son spilled some juice on it 3 days after the operation and we had to change the bandages (which was painful and stressing).
I recommend you see a doctor, speak to him about the operation and ask all those questions you have.
The healing process was similar to any "stitches operation". It just has to grow. If I recall correctly it was like 1 month.
recovery
My son's surgery was just over 4 weeks ago. They first put on a huge cast that covered his whole hand and went all the way up to his mid upper arm. He adjusted to that so quick I couldn't believe it. I thought he would constantly be tugging at it or irritated by it, but he just went about his usual routine, and just used his left hand for everything. They took that off 3 weeks after the surgery and now he has a removeable cast that the doctor said we could take off for bathing and then we could take it off more often after a week. I've had it off quite a bit lately and he's slowly starting to use his right hand now. I hate putting the cast back on him because he really likes having his hand back!
I hear you about the insurance. My husband switched jobs after we had set the date for the surgery, so I was so worried that the hand surgeon wouldn't take our new insurance, but fortunately he did. Insurance is a major headache!!
I think that's a good idea to wait until after the summer, that way she can go swimming and have fun without the hassle, plus I'm sure she doesn't mind having the extra thumb! My son was supposed to have his surgery on his left hand a few months after the surgery on his right hand, which would be May, but I think I may hold off until the fall.
Extra Digit
Her extra thumb doesn't bother her, but she does try to use it for things and it confuses her a little that she doesn't have one on the other hand. We live right on Lake Michigan and go to the beach all the time, and I didn't want her to miss that this year. What is a few extra months when she has waited a year anyway.
We are going to get a referral from our peditrician but I also wanted to do the research on Doctors and hospitals to make sure she is getting the best possible care. I do trust the peditrician but I have been seeing all these bad reports about doctors and hospitals I want to make sure. I didn't realize how hard it was to find doctors in this specialty.
(he's now 4 years old). If the finger was 
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