Anybody had or know anything about knuckle replacement surgery?

FelineFriend

I have OA in most of my body but it is worst in my right hand and particularly the bottom joint of my index finger. So far I have had one steroid injection into the knuckle which worked like a miracle - it was like I had a new hand - but it only lasted 10 weeks and then wore off. I am scheduled for another in April but my consultant says he cannot do any more after that. I enquired about surgery and he said that knuckle replacement is really for those whose OA is so bad that it's a last resort and I wasn't at that point yet! However, he did say that there was a fairly new procedure possibly available to me where they take tissue from the soft pad on the palm of the hand at the back of the knuckle and use that to stuff the joint to help ease the pain. Because it is your own tissue it grows into the joint and is less invasive than replacing with metal and plastic bits. It can be used as a stop gap until things are so bad you qualify for a replacement. Anybody heard of this or have experience of this?

SharminB

Hi @FelineFriend,

Welcome and thank you for joining the Versus Arthritis online community. And thank you for sharing with us. You might find this thread on our forum useful.

https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/57141/knuckle-replacement-surgery

Best wishes,

Sharmin - Mod :)

stickywicket

Perhaps I was googlkng badly but I could find no mention of your consultant's alternative surgery let alone a PubMed article on it. I'd have lots of questions for him such as how successful is it, how long does it last, how many of these operations has he done and could he point you towards some articles on it and independent reviews.

Vic89

Hi I had my right knuckles replaced 11 yrs ago, unfortunately they have all broken now . They aren’t looking at redoing them , they aren’t giving me any pain , it’s just a bit awkward picking things up.

hope this is of some help

Poppyjane

Hello @Vic89 welcome to the online community

Sorry @FelineFriend to hijack your thread, Just wanted to say hello to Vic89 and to thank you for supporting another member in your first post on the community. We are here to support each other and hope that you will continue to join in with your advice and tips in the future. We look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes

Poppyjane Moderator

FelineFriend

https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/comment/705356#Comment_705356

He did explain the procedure thoroughly and that he had done several although it still isn’t a common procedure. I can’t remember if he told me the name of it so I haven’t been able to Google it myself but will ask when I see him in April.