Syndactyly is a congenital condition in which two or more fingers are fused together. In simple syndactyly, the fingers are joined by skin and soft tissue only. The complex form involves bone as well as soft tissue.
Traditional reconstructive approaches for separating fused fingers use skin grafts. In June 2025, researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) published a new study in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery demonstrating that, for cases of simple syndactyly, patients who underwent reconstruction with an advancement flap without skin graft have fewer postoperative complications than the approach using skin grafts. This technique also avoids having a skin graft donor site elsewhere on the body.
This is one of the largest studies that involves a comparison group. The group that underwent the traditional skin graft technique had significantly more early complications such as infection, hematoma, seroma and wound healing issues. The skin graftless technique also has the advantage of taking approximately 30 minutes less time.
For the less common cases of complex syndactyly, the skin graftless technique cannot be used since there is not enough skin between the fingers to accomplish the procedure.
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Syndactyly is a congenital condition in which two or more fingers are fused together. In simple syndactyly, the fingers are joined by skin and soft tissue only. The complex form involves bone as well as soft tissue.
Traditional reconstructive approaches for separating fused fingers use skin grafts. In June 2025, researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) published a new study in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery demonstrating that, for cases of simple syndactyly, patients who underwent reconstruction with an advancement flap without skin graft have fewer postoperative complications than the approach using skin grafts. This technique also avoids having a skin graft donor site elsewhere on the body.
This is one of the largest studies that involves a comparison group. The group that underwent the traditional skin graft technique had significantly more early complications such as infection, hematoma, seroma and wound healing issues. The skin graftless technique also has the advantage of taking approximately 30 minutes less time.
For the less common cases of complex syndactyly, the skin graftless technique cannot be used since there is not enough skin between the fingers to accomplish the procedure.
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