![]() Usually, your baby won’t require any special treatment or therapy before surgery.If your child has simple syndactyly that involves the thumb or small finger (also known as the border fingers of the hand), surgery to separate the conjoined fingers is recommended during the first year of your child’s life. Muzaffar will carefully explain the treatment plan and the details of the surgical procedures. Your baby will continue to be examined in our clinic periodically during the months before surgery. Muzaffar will examine your baby and take X-rays of the affected hand. Otherwise, you will meet with him soon after your baby is born. In some cases, diagnosis is made prenatally by ultrasound exam, and you may have the opportunity to meet Dr. What happens between the time my baby is born and the first surgery? For example, with craniofacial dysostosis syndromes, such as Apert’s syndrome, the child has significant head and face abnormalities in addition to very severe, symmetric syndactyly of the hands and feet. Syndactyly may occur as part of different syndromes. Some children with syndactyly will have other congenital (present at birth) abnormalities or syndromes. Are there other problems that may occur with syndactyly? In very severe cases, with multiple digits involved in complex syndactyly, your child may have problems with infection and skin breakdown. Syndactyly causes limitation of function because the involved digits cannot move completely or independently. The primary issue in syndactyly is your baby’s inability to use his or her hands and fingers. What are the main issues related to syndactyly? This may be caused by a genetic abnormality or by environmental influences. Syndactyly occurs when there is a failure of this separation process. When the hands and feet are developing in the womb, they start out as flat “paddles” that then normally separate into five digits. Syndactyly is more common in Caucasians than in other ethnicities and affects boys twice as often as girls. However, syndactyly is not the same from one generation to the next and can be more or less severe than in the affected parents. If syndactyly occurs alone, it is inherited as an autosomal dominant condition that is, the children of an affected individual will have a 50 percent chance of having syndactyly. In up to approximately 40 percent of cases, there is a family history of syndactyly. Overall, syndactyly occurs in approximately one out of 2,500 newborns. Syndactyly can occur in any newborn infant. The bones of the digits are fused together. The digits are joined by the skin and soft tissue only. This occurs when the digits are joined only part way up the length. This occurs when the digits are joined all the way to their tips. What are the different types of syndactyly? However, in some very severe cases in which the nails might dig into the joined fingertips, minor infections and wounds may cause some discomfort. Syndactyly may occur alone or with other anomalies as part of a syndrome. In about 50 percent of cases, both hands are involved. It most commonly involves the middle and ring fingers. With syndactyly, the fingers and/or toes are “webbed” (fused together), meaning they have failed to separate normally during fetal development. Frequently asked questions about syndactylyĬheck out the answers to commonly asked questions about this condition. Your child may need multiple procedures in a staged sequence to achieve separation of all the digits. In special cases with very complex syndactyly - or complicated syndactyly, such as in Apert’s syndrome - we may recommend earlier surgery. Before this age, the incidence of wound healing complications and skin graft failures is significantly higher. Muzaffar performs this surgery at about 18 months of age. When the small finger or thumb is involved, this procedure is done at about six months of age to avoid distortion of the adjacent ring or index finger with growth, since the thumb and small finger are shorter than their neighboring digits. Usually skin grafts from the lower abdomen are used to cover the separated fingers. Our MU Health Care team treats syndactyly with an operation that separates the digits using skin from the digits. When your child has these “webbed” fingers or toes, you can trust the Children's Health specialists at University of Missouri Children’s Hospital to expertly treat the condition. Syndactyly, the most common congenital hand anomaly, is an abnormal connection of fingers or toes to one another.
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