Amputees Support Group

I haven't had direct experience with bone spurs or fingertip amputations, but in general there's apparently good news and bad news about bone spurs.

The bad news is, surgical removal of them is about the only effective treatment, from what I've read about complications of amputation.

However, the good news seems to be that having a spur removed is usually uncomplicated, and *MAY* alter that sensitivity to cold temperatures you wrote of in a different thread. My *THEORY* is, such problems are a variation of "phantom sensation" where an amputation has severed nerves, which heal OK but do send false sensation signals to the brain. In my case, I don't have phantom pain but it often feels like my leg is still there, and usually in some anatomically improbable position, and I've felt both heat and cold phantom sensations from my right leg, which is totally gone.

From what I've read about spur problems, the doctor simply makes an incision that can be spread to give access to the spur, then they either snap it off and then "sand the area down" so it's smooth, or just sand it down with a device slightly smaller than a Dremel Moto-Tool and sometimes with a tool more like a dentist's drill but with a grinding disk instead of a drill bit.

Probably they'd use a general anaesthetic that puts you unconscious, do the procedure, and you'd wake up shortly after, with a few stitches, and hopefully a lot less pain. Recovery times would vary, but it seems to be a matter of a few weeks on minor surgeries and you'd have to really think about it to remember when it was done. If, for some reason they had to make a larger incision, it might be a month or two before the whole thing heals completely, but all in all the results of having such a procedure done are excellent, uncomplicated, and the relief has been reportedly worth seeking...

As another member on here says, "PAIN is not OK!" so go see what your doctor says can be done in your specific circumstances.

If anybody else has other info, please post it, 'cause I'm in the uphill side of the learning curve about these things...

Thank you Tebiki!!!

mu husband loss his right thumd and he ended up having a burr on it..He did have it removed and is doing quite well..he also got a prostatis and it looks just like his other thumb..Its amazing how real they make them..lol..to bad its just sitting on his shelf..said it gets in his way more than it help.

You're welcome, Lindsey. One of my friends had a very bad fracture of her wrist bone (ulna, I believe) and had several fragments that had broken off. Bottom line was, she was in the O.R. for about 45 minutes, had 6 fragments about 1/4 inch or less taken out, and the doctor did a little work on the fracture itself since he was in there, and my friend came out with a whopping four stitches and a long bandaid. Now there's a little tiny white line on her wrist when she gets a tan, and that's the only clue anything was even done.

Talk to your doctor; he'll probably have a couple, maybe up to 4, X-rays done, and from those he'll be able to tell you it won't be any major problem to go in and fix.