How to correctly recognize congenital malformations of the hand and foot area

Every time I see a little baby with congenital hand and foot deformities, I can feel the anxiety, uneasiness and even guilt of the child’s parents. When I see the baby’s mother shedding helpless tears, my heart is touched by this strong motherly love. Due to the lack of knowledge about the etiology of congenital malformations, some families would transform this misfortune into suspicion and dissatisfaction towards the child’s mother, while some parents, worried about being talked about by their neighbors and relatives, would eagerly want to have an early surgical treatment and neglect the detailed examination and choice of surgical plan. First of all, etiologically speaking, most of the congenital malformations of the hands and feet are unable to identify their specific causes. Except for individual cases with obvious family history, changes in environment and diet may be a major factor in the increase of congenital malformations in recent years. Don’t be nervous when you find your baby has congenital malformations of the hands and feet. Most of the congenital malformations can be surgically treated to achieve satisfactory appearance and function. The specific timing of surgery is mostly between the ages of half and one and a half years, but of course, if conditions permit, the surgery should be done as early as possible in order to correct the deformity before the baby’s hand function is perfected. Most congenital malformations of the hands and feet may be a stand-alone condition, or they may be a single manifestation of a syndrome of malformations or anomalies of skeletal development. Therefore, a thorough and careful physical examination may be required to clarify the presence of other systemic malformations after discovery of the deformity. It is important to fully recognize that congenital hand and foot deformities vary in severity of onset, so surgical options must be chosen carefully. Even for similar malformations, it is difficult to develop a standardized surgical approach, and an individualized surgical plan needs to be designed based on the variability of the baby’s bones, tendons, vascular nerves, and skin. In short, it is never as simple as just removing or separating them, which ultimately results in a less satisfactory form and function, and a correspondingly more difficult surgical treatment at a later stage. For a number of reasons, congenital malformations of the hands and feet are not well recognized in clinical practice, and progress in treatment has been slower than in other disciplines. With the increase in the number of malformations and the demand for treatment, our concepts of treatment have been constantly changed and updated in the last few years. Currently, in our department, for congenital hand and foot deformities, there are detailed case discussions, rigorous surgical design, and some of the more complex cases will also be invited to the network of the industry’s best experts to jointly design the surgical program. Combined with our own advantages, all surgical operations are performed under a 3-5 times operating microscope, and we strive to be delicate. Combined with the later functional rehabilitation and long-term correction, we try our best to pursue the perfect shape and functional rehabilitation. In the following articles, I will introduce some common congenital anomalies one by one, and I hope it will be helpful to you.