Skip to main content

Repairing Your Hands With Reconstruction & Microsurgery

From common hand problems to traumatic injuries or those requiring specialized expertise, our hand and microsurgery specialists in plastic and reconstructive surgery can provide you with the best care available.

Our surgeons have expertise in caring for your hands and upper extremities (arms and shoulders). Our expertise ranges from microsurgery to total elbow arthroplasty and sophisticated grafts to congenital hand surgery.

Our hand team performs over 2,500 surgical cases each year and works closely with certified hand therapists to make sure you have the quality care you need.

Find a Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon

Hand Reconstruction

Traumatic injuries can cause complex injuries in your hand, causing other injuries in your bones, tendons, blood vessels, nerves, and/or skin. Our hand surgeons are skilled at repairing these complex injuries, with the goal of improving how your hand moves and flexes over time.

Some injuries can be repaired in a single surgery, but other injuries will need a staged approach, or multiple surgeries. Often, multiple parts of your hand need to be repaired, requiring individualized care both during and after surgery.

After your surgery, our surgeons will work closely with your hand therapists to make sure your hand can work as well as possible after your injury.

Hand Microsurgery & Reconstruction Techniques

Microsurgery

Sometimes, hand injuries can also injure the tiny blood vessels in your hand and wrist. In these cases, surgeons use a microscope to reconstruct these injured blood vessels. Our surgeons use microsurgical skills to perform blood vessel reconstruction in your lower extremities (feet and legs), just like in other parts of your body.

Nerve & Blood Vessel Reconstruction

Traumatic injuries to your extremities, like arms, hands, and fingers, can tear the delicate nerves and blood vessels inside your body. When this happens, surgeons use a special procedure to sew (or suture) torn ends of nerves and blood vessels back together.

During nerve and blood vessel reconstruction, surgeons rely on magnification technology to see close-up images to repair these delicate parts of our bodies (microsurgery). Surgeons use a low-powered microscope (similar to the technology used in eyeglasses) to suture blood vessels in larger extremities like legs or arms, and sometimes to repair smaller blood vessels in the distal (outer) part of the legs, hands, and feet—like blood vessels in fingers and toes.

Surgeons also perform nerve and blood vessel reconstruction during finger replantation procedures, relying on the same techniques doctors use to repair blood vessels in other parts of the body.

Our hand and microsurgery clinic uses leading-edge techniques to repair blood vessels and nerves. Blood vessel reconstruction procedures tend to be very successful, restoring blood flow that keeps your extremities alive.

While nerve reconstruction won’t help your hand work the way it did before your injury, nerve reconstruction does bring back substantial function to your nerves.

How to Prevent Kitchen Knife Injuries

Breaking Down Carpal Tunnel

Make an Appointment With Our Hand Specialists

You might not think about how important your wrists and hands are to daily life—until they are hurt or injured. If you have been taking care of your wrist or hand pain at home and the symptoms are still present after seven to 10 days, it may be time to see one of our plastic surgery doctors.

Referrals are welcome but not necessary. You can make an appointment with a plastic surgeon by calling 801-585-4263.

Hear from Our Patients

Jaclyn Perkins, a BYU student, almost ended her pianist career when she severely injured her pinky while chopping a mango. With the help of reconstructive hand surgery and hand therapy at U of U Health, she was able to get back to playing her beloved piano once again.

Read Jaclyn's Story

Picture of patient Jaclyn Perkins

Hear From Our Specialists