I'm scheduled for carpal and cubital surgery in two months. They are doing one arm at a time (carpal release and cubital release with submuscular transposition) 6-8 weeks apart.

Has anyone had either of these operations done? What can i expect? I'm mainly worried about the cubital surgery. Do the scars hurt after? does the scar pain eventually fade away? Can I expect to at least not get worse from it?

Just any summaries of what you went through, or help would be great. Thanks. I'm worried like crazy about it all.

Hi xandrr
I've got CuTS & had surgery for CTS about 7 or 8 years ago. The way that you're having the surgery done sounds ok with a good while in between to let the first hand/arm recover.

I had my CTS surgery done as a day case & the only drug I had was the local anaesthetic. I've read many posts where people have been sedated but I really don't think that's necessary. I quite happily chatted to the surgeon/nurses throughout the procedure & listened to music. I was told to start moving my fingers as I left the operating theatre & to keep on moving them. I had no splints, exercises, physio, drugs & the median nerve side of my hands are fine (except if I overdo things). Normal for me is to type 8-10 hours a day plus drawing & lots of writing, so when I say overdoing I mean more than that.

You're right to be more concerned about the CuTS surgery. It's a bit more tricky to do apparently & the sucess rate isn't as high as with CTS. That's why I'm postponing it meantime (surgeon's advice). I'll wait until the dead arm thing gets totally unbearable.

The scars on my hands just look like extensions of my life lines - very thin white lines. I had the stitches in for 2 weeks but after 5 days was told to take the big pressure bandage off & just stick an elastoplast over it to stop the stitches catching. I went in the shower & got the stitches soaked, just dabbed carefully to keep the wound dry & both times they healed up perfectly. Once the big bandage came off after 5 days I could start using my hand again, very gently & carefully, gradually increasing what it did. After a few weeks it was back to normal. I didn't do any of that massaging stuff on the scar with vitamin e cream or anything either.

Try not to worry too much, it really isn't worth it. One thing though....don't be disappointed if you don't notice a huge improvement to start off with. It can take quite a while for the nerves to recover from the surgery. Took my dominant hand about 4 months before it felt any better. You just have to be patient.

Best wishes.
Lidia
:)