First of all, we can tell you that you can operate on a child’s syndactyly without skin implants. When a child has a skin defect when he or she has a juxtaposition of fingers, there are usually two solutions: one is skin grafting, which means that the skin from other places on the child’s body is removed and implanted on the hand. The first problem is that if the skin is taken from other places, there will be scars in other places; the second problem is that the skin in the affected area will have pigmentation, and the color will be darker than the normal skin on the hand; the third problem is that the skin implant is not 100% viable, and if it does not survive, it will be more troublesome. The advantage of implantation is that if it survives, the healing will be faster. Another method is not to take the skin from other parts of the body to implant the skin, we use artificial dermis to attach it and let it grow up slowly. There are several advantages of this procedure: firstly, there is no need to remove the skin and there is no damage to other parts of the body; secondly, the regenerated skin looks very much like normal skin; thirdly, there is no possibility of necrosis. Because the use of artificial dermis is to let the skin slowly grow from the surrounding normal skin to the middle, so the healing will be a little slower. Parents often ask me which method to use, and I usually suggest artificial dermis. This method can be used not only for finger merging on the hand, but also for toe merging on the foot, which is a method that can be used for all types of finger merging. As long as the child is in good health and weighs the right amount, it can be done at about 6 months of age. The wound is smaller and heals faster after surgery for younger children, and it is easier for parents to take care of the child after surgery.