Digital Nerve Repair

Digital nerve repair is an intricate microsurgical procedure that reconnects the severed ends of a nerve in the finger or hand. Nerve fibres are matched up and tiny stitches are used to repair the outer layer that insulates and protects the nerve. The nerve fibres inside are then able to grow back, enabling muscles to work again. The extent of damage to a nerve following injury can be difficult to assess. Injuries where a nerve is bruised are generally left to heal on their own, with surgical intervention recommended when nerve fibres in the fingers or hand have been completely severed. Nerve fibers typically begin to regrow about three or four weeks after surgery. However nerve growth is gradual so it can take quite a long time, up to a year before feeling returns to the fingers.