Undergone Trigger Thumb Surgery And Still Feeling Numbness In Thumb. What To Do?

Posted on Fri, 30 Aug 2013

Question: I had trigger thumb surgery 5 weeks ago it is still numb down half of the thumb is this normal. regards XXXXXXX

Answered by Dr. K. Naga Ravi Prasad (39 minutes later)

Hi, thanks for writing to XXXXXXX

A trigger thumb release surgery should not lead to numbness in strict sense.

Numbness could be the result of compression of the digital nerve during the surgical procedure. If it is only Neuropraxia (concussion of the nerve), it will recover spontaneously within 6-8 weeks without any issues.

Daily supplementation of neurotropic vitamins like Vit B12 may be helpful in bringing down the numbness.

If the numbness is still persisting after 2 months, then nerve conduction studies are necessary to establish the extent of injury to the nerve.

Hope I have addressed your issues. Happy to help for any more clarifications.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar