All our surgeons have received extensive training in surgery of the hand. Dr. Merrell and Dr. Billet have also passed rigorous tests beyond plastic surgery board examination in order to receive a certification of added qualification in hand surgery. This expertise allows them to address such common and readily treatable problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome (progressive numbness and weakness of the hand due to repetitive gripping and motion stress), ganglion cysts (soft tissue lumps which often grow slowly until they produce pain due to pressure on nerves) and dupuytrens disease (a progressive thickening of the tissues of the palm and hand causing nodules to form which eventually make the fingers draw up into the palm). We use our hands to do so many things on a day to day basis. They are unfortunately frequently at risk for injury. Many hand problems results from cuts, bruises, burns, or other types of trauma. Dr. Merrell or Dr. Billet are always on call - 24 hours a day; seven days a week - to address these acute problems. When an emergency hand injury occurs just give us a call - the repair of fractures, or disrupted tendons, arteries and nerves by a qualified hand surgeon is critical to helping restore both function and form.

The physicians at Plastic Surgery Associates are on-call 24/7 and often are asked to see patients like this man who amputated the end of his thumb. Rather than simply cutting the rest off, microsurgical technique was used to take a portion of the great toe to reconstruct the thumb and restore both form and function.