Selecting the right hand doctor is a very personal decision, but that doesn’t mean you’re on your own. Although choosing the right hand specialist for you can seem daunting at first, there are some simple ways to structure your research and use it to make a confident decision about hand treatment.
Here we’ll discuss why you need a hand doctor specifically, and how to select a top hand surgeon that is also the best hand doctor for you.
Improve Your Hand Health and Improve Your Life
There’s almost no way to overstate the importance of having full use of our hands in our everyday lives. This is part of the reason that the hands need their own medical specialist—a hand doctor, also known as a hand specialist or hand surgeon.
Our hands literally keep us in touch with the world. Meeting someone for the first time typically involves a handshake in our culture, and also involves the hands in most other societies. The hands form a large part of the first impression you form of another person and the first impression you make on them.
Although we may rely mostly upon facial expressions, our hands also help us communicate and define who we are.
Our hands speak for us, not only in the literal sense of sign language, but as part of our overall body language. Hands help us build our relationships with others, such as when we care for our children or place our hand on a friend’s shoulder in comfort or greeting.
The hands allow us to act and carry out the intentions of our brains and our conscience. It’s no wonder that the slightest glitch in the function of the hands, fingers or thumb requires immediate and specialized medical attention.
Do the Hands Really Need Their Own Doctor?
The huge role that our hands play in our everyday existence is part of the reason that hands need their own doctor: a skilled, experienced and well-educated medical professional focused on the form and function of the hands. The other major reason that hand surgery is a medical specialty unto itself is the complexity of the structure and function of the hands.
When something impairs the use of your hands or fingers, it changes your life and can make the above-mentioned communication and activity difficult. Hand impairment needs timely, expert attention from an experienced hand doctor.
This person should be a highly qualified hand surgeon with years in the field. The term hand doctor is very appropriate, however, because this individual must always first consider completely non-invasive treatments (other than actual hand surgery) to restore the health and usefulness of your hands and fingers.
Even the most highly credentialed and educated hand specialist is not a good choice for you if he or she defaults to surgery as the only answer to every hand condition for every patient. In cases where hand surgery is the recommended option, considered best by the patient as well as the doctor, there are many minimally invasive options that don’t require large or noticeable scars.
Make sure your hand surgeon is also a true hand doctor, to ensure you’re offered the widest set of options for treatment, including minimally invasive hand surgery, to suit your lifestyle and your condition.
Defining Hand Doctor
Hand doctors (hand specialists and hand surgeons) are experts in and focused on the complex structure and interaction of bones, muscles and joints that power your hand. Hand surgeons generally handle upper extremity conditions that affect the body from the fingertips to the elbow.
If you are experiencing hand pain, numbness or clumsiness, carpal tunnel symptoms, this is the specialist you need.
A well-qualified hand doctor is a plastic surgeon, ideally also a general surgeon, who also has additional training in surgery of the hand. Your hand doctor should also have years of experience in hand surgery and treatment, because even the most thorough training is not enough without actual experience.
A dedicated hand surgeon puts your needs first, and always considers conservative non-surgical treatments like splinting, physical therapy, limited and safe corticosteroid injections and medications for joint pain and inflammation.
Your hand surgeon will clearly explain your options for treatment, along with any risks involved, so that you can make an informed decision about your care.
Choosing Your Best Hand Doctor: Factors to Consider
- Academic Background and Education: Make sure your hand surgeon has been well prepared to excel in the profession of hand surgery. Excellent education at an elite medical school ensures that your hand surgeon is familiar with the latest treatments methods.
- Credentials: Check for current NJ state medical licensure with the Dept. of Consumer Affairs.
- Experience: Select a surgeon with both general and plastic surgery experience to ensure that your hands not only function at their best possible level, but also look their best, with minimal visible scarring after hand surgery.
- Advanced Practice: Choose a hand doctor from a reconstructive surgery practice to ensure the deepest level of anatomical knowledge of the hands. In many cases, hand surgery involves complex microsurgery. If your surgery will be a more complex case, you should choose a surgeon with specific experience in this microsurgery. You can ask your surgeon about his or her experience in this area.
- Communication: Choose a hand doctor who communicates with you well. Make sure he or she is able to explain your diagnosis and treatment plan clearly so that you understand the procedure, risks and options.
- Patient-focused: Choose a surgeon who has spent time meeting with you, without rushing or glossing over any of your questions. In addition, most dedicated hand surgeons and their staff will work with your insurance company to provide all the background information the insurer needs to evaluate your case.
- If your condition meets your insurance company criteria, you may receive coverage for some of the hand surgery cost from your health insurer or workers compensation insurance policy.
- Make sure the surgeon and practice you choose are willing to take time to provide documentation to your insurer as needed.
- Dedication and rapport: Look for and choose a surgeon who will partner with you throughout your surgery and recovery period to ensure the shortest healing time—and best results—from your hand surgery.
- Choose a surgeon who seems genuinely interested in your welfare. You will get a good sense about the level of dedication after meeting with your hand doctor.
- When you choose a truly dedicated hand surgeon that you trust, you can go confidently into your surgery and expect the best outcome.
Prioritize Hand Function and Comfort: Don’t Delay Care
When something is very wrong with the hand, people typically seek treatment and a specialized hand doctor is the best resource in this situation. A surprising number of people, however, try to ignore problems with their hands, thinking any pain, stiffness or decreased sensation in the hands will go away on its own—or feel that they’re too busy to seek care.
Delaying care for hand problems may make your condition worse. Don’t assume there’s no treatment for arthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome other than NSAIDs—and never let a possible break, fracture or sprain “heal on its own.”
Also, if you have an old injury that has not healed well, or has perhaps developed excessive scar tissue, it’s never too late to seek treatment.
If you have, or a loved one, has (even a small) problem with a hand, wrist, fingers or thumb, be certain to get proper care from a dedicated hand surgeon. See your hand doctor to determine the cause of any hand pain, lack of strength or dexterity problem.
Don’t try to soldier on, or allow a friend/family member to do so, because even a relatively minor impairment can affect almost every moment of your life. Seemingly minor hand conditions can worsen invisibly until they become severe. Even small issues with the wrist, hand or fingers reduce your quality of life—and it doesn’t have to be that way.
Find Out More at Cohen/Winters
You need full and pain-free use of your hands for meeting, greeting, learning, communicating, comforting and overall functioning—so make sure you see a well-qualified and dedicated hand doctor.
At Cohen/Winters Aesthetic & Reconstructive Surgery, we are dedicated to restoring the full function and appearance of the hands. We’re happy to help you determine if surgery would be the best option for you and invite you to contact our Bergen County practice to set up a consultation.
