Factors affecting hand cosmesis and the aesthetic impact of surgery on congenital hand differences in Finland

We assessed the appearance and cosmetic impact of surgery in congenitally different hands in Finland. A questionnaire was sent to 1165 respondents (786 female) with a mean age of 33 years (range 3–84). Participants were shown nine image pairs and seven pairs of pre- and postoperative images twice in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of hand surgery, European volume Vol. 48; no. 4; pp. 333 - 340
Main Authors Nietosvaara, Noora N., Sommarhem, Antti J., Stenroos, Antti, Nietosvaara, Aarno Y., Grahn, Petra
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.04.2023
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Child
Child, Preschool
Female
Fingers
Finland
Hand
Hand Deformities, Congenital - surgery
Humans
Middle Aged
Syndactyly - surgery
Thumb - surgery
Young Adult
Finland
Upper extremity deformities
aesthetics
disability evaluation
hand
child
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:We assessed the appearance and cosmetic impact of surgery in congenitally different hands in Finland. A questionnaire was sent to 1165 respondents (786 female) with a mean age of 33 years (range 3–84). Participants were shown nine image pairs and seven pairs of pre- and postoperative images twice in a random order and asked to choose the more cosmetically pleasing one. We found that the appearance and number of fingers had an important aesthetic role, with higher number and more normal appearing digits consistently scoring higher than its counterpart (range 59–99%). Postoperative appearances were perceived as better than preoperative ones in syndactyly (98%), thumb duplication (92%), cleft hand (93%) and radial dysplasia (99%). Toe transfer and pollicization had little impact on cosmesis. This study demonstrated that surgery could improve cosmesis in congenitally different hands and overall, most respondents prefer an appearance that is as close as possible to normality. Level of evidence: IV
ISSN:1753-1934
2043-6289
DOI:10.1177/17531934221139698