Would you want your hands reconstructed if they looked like this?

May 27, 2009

At what point does aesthetics trump function?

Over at Better Health, Val Jones talks about cases where land mines blow off hands, necessitating the so-called Krukenberg operation, which recreates a pincer grasp in the hands.

The result looks like this:

krukenberg operation

It’s a remarkable procedure. But, as Val notes, not everyone may want this operation, as some may opt for aesthetics over function.



Related posts:

  1. How to tell doctors to wash their hands
  2. The hands-off culture of American medicine
  3. Medicine needs to get back to hands-on basics, rather than focusing on technology
  4. Abortion by massage
  5. Her hands and feet amputated, a Brazilian model dies from Pseudomonas aeruginosa sepsis. What happened?
  6. The dynamics between the surgeon and anesthesiologist in the operating room
  7. Physician compensation: Salary vs productivity-based


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{ 6 comments }

1 Jakoot May 27, 2009 at 4:47 pm

I have heard about a lady who had her thumb amputated in India. After being released from the hospital she tried to get on a bus. But she fell as she could not grasp the bar on the door and was run over by another bus and died. May be function is important. May be the perspective of these unfortunate individuals is different than ours. This question can only be answered by someone in that position.

2 GG Freeman May 27, 2009 at 6:01 pm

Jakoot is right. Only the individual can answer that question, but as true “bionic” limbs and hands are slowly becoming a reality… a stump into which can be plugged a strong and fully controllable very real looking hand, while expensive, now, is a very viable option in the very near future.

3 Mr. Amazing May 27, 2009 at 6:27 pm

I’d rather have two meat cleavers attached to my wrists than walk around with with those grotesque alien lobster claws….

4 Doc Stone May 27, 2009 at 6:58 pm

For those who must earn a living or else perish, function is everything.

5 rose May 28, 2009 at 12:20 pm

So if this guy needed breast implants in California would he be able to get medical attention? Because they’ll never fix his hands in that State.

6 MisterBH June 5, 2009 at 10:25 am

If I lost my hands, it appears that this type of claw would be a viable and very practical alternative. I’d probably actually ask for it rather than one of those metal hook things…..

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