Time Is the Best Measure of Skill

A Baby with Polydactyly: The Results More Than 5 Years After Surgery

right thumb at 6+ months / the same thumb 5+ years after treatment

Five years after Lulu's polydactyly surgery,her mother sent Vice President Zhang Songjian — a hand and foot surgery specialist — an X-ray taken at a local hospital, asking him to check how her thumb had developed.

The conversation began as a perfectly ordinary exchange of questions and answers.

[Image: messages between Lulu's mom and Dr. Zhang]

Then Lulu's mom also sent along clips showing her right thumb in motion: flexible function, a good contour, a perfectly straight thumb. Only on close inspection can you make out the old incision — a single faint white line.

After that, she forwarded screenshots of her chat with Lulu's dad. The most eye-catching thing in them was one particular superlative — "awesome" — which turned up again and again in the conversation.

[Image: feedback — "Recovered really well" — "awesome"]

"Because the thumb grew so straight, the local doctor asked in puzzlement whether the extra digit had ever had any bone in it at all — whether it was just a little lump of flesh..."

Once the family explained the details, the doctor said: "This surgery was done incredibly well — you can hardly see any trace of it..."

Five years ago, at just over 6 months old, the surgery was performed successfully at Renji

We also went back to the records from five years ago, when Lulu came to the hospital at just over six months old. The condition of her right thumb was Type IV polydactyly, where the duplicated bone arises from the metacarpophalangeal joint. It is the most common of the seven types of thumb polydactyly, and the most prone to angulation — the type that most tests a surgeon's experience and technical skill.

❤ Dr. Zhang Songjian says:

"For us as doctors, Lulu's case was very common, and the technique is already well established — a routine procedure. What impressed us most was how sensible her parents were."

"They said: the child was so young, and of course they were extremely worried. But to avoid any impact on her later life, they decided to go ahead with treatment at six months. They simply wanted to give the finger the best possible conditions to develop, and to keep it from affecting her psychologically."

In what Lulu's parents did, we felt once again, and very keenly, the truth of that old saying: parents who love their child plan far ahead on their behalf. And this conversation five years later is proof enough of how wise that decision was.

The surgical plan

After his consultation, Dr. Zhang designed a microsurgical aesthetic reconstruction tailored to Lulu's case. During the operation, the team did not simply have to remove the extra tissue completely — they also had to make full use of that tissue to restore the contour and rebuild function.

At the same time, the deviated tendon, nerve and other tissues had to be corrected, so that after recovery the thumb would not drift out of alignment, and would end up better looking and more freely moving.

[Image: immediately after surgery — microsurgical technique + plastic aesthetic technique]

More than 5 years later (recently)

Below are the photos of her hand that her mother sent.

[Image: recent photos of Lulu's hand]

Time is the best measure of skill.

In pediatric orthopedics, there are many children like Lulu who get back in touch years later. And we learn that they have recovered well — confident, bright and sunny — right in the middle of a carefree childhood.

— From us, with love —

The superlatives that appeared in that chat were the most direct kind of praise, and an excitement impossible to hide. What they reflect, indirectly, is hard-core skill — and a child's shining future.