I have growth hormone overproduction (acromegaly) that makes my hands very large.
I am 6 months on hormone therapy as part of my transformation from male to female
I would like to know about surgeons perform surgeries that tightening and reducing the width of the fingers and the palm in the hand.
A did not find it in any list of recommended surgeons for transgenders
I don't think there is a surgery that can make your hands smaller, as it is mostly just skin and bone
Quote from: GhostTown11 on May 21, 2012, 01:34:41 PM
Again? Seriously?
I get that the OP posted this twice, but keep in mind that this is a support forum and repeatedly caustic replies (as I've seen your other posts) isn't going to do wonders for your reputation in the long run. I'm not a mod, but I just figured I'd say before someone else does, because I technically have no authority what your posting.
Please stick to the topic at hand and refrain from the unrelated commentary.
Quote from: asi on May 21, 2012, 07:12:27 AM
I have growth hormone overproduction (acromegaly) that makes my hands very large.
I am 6 months on hormone therapy as part of my transformation from male to female
I would like to know about surgeons perform surgeries that tightening and reducing the width of the fingers and the palm in the hand.
A did not find it in any list of recommended surgeons for transgenders
Hi asi. Welcome to Susans Place.
As I understand it, as a non-medical professional, acromegaly is a disorder caused by too much human growth hormone, having something to do with the pituitary gland.
I suggest that the best place to get information is from your endocrinologist, or perhaps some endocrinology journals. You don't say where you are located (in general terms) so it is hard to make any further recommendations.
Sorry what I meant was that bone cannot be changed no matter what once it's formed. Also, this topic has been done to death before so you can understand my skepticism...
Bone cannot be changed? Foreheads, chins, jaws are shaved all the time. Some have a leg shorter than the other and have that leg broken and pinned and screwed and lengthened over a period of time. I dare say it's not impossible to do the reverse. There exists foot reduction surgery which changes the lengths of the toes. There may be some loss of movement. But I wouldn't attempt the same for hands for that reason.
I highly doubt that this can be corrected. Bones like the ones in the fingers can't really be thinned, can they? Wouldn't the surgeon reach the marrow? I mean, those bones are hollow, right?
They could be shortened, but that would be an enormous workload. They'd need to break every one of each finger's 3 bones and remove portions to retain proportions. That's not even considering the very delicate environment that fingers are compared to femurs, on which shortening surgeries are occasionally performed.
I'd forget it if I were you. Even -if- a surgeon does this, which I doubt, it would probably be very risky (loss of sensation or mobility, fragilised bones, circulation problems...) and it would require you to have your whole hands in casts for an extended period. And even if you did do it, a typical man's hand is large but relatively short. That's just the direction towards which you'd be headed if you got your fingers shortened.
As for the rest of the hand, it's even worse. Do you know how many bones there are in there?
I think your only - distant, impractical and improbable - hope would be to have both hands grafted, a surgery that they are starting to do on people who have lost them. It's still very rare, and the example I saw on TV was doing a lot of re-education, and still couldn't write with his hand, which, by the way, definitely looked "glued on". Not something to look forward to in your case.
So, uhm... I really think there's nothing to do about your hands, sadly. On the bright side, if you have acromegaly, it's "normal" for you, even as a female, to have huge hands, isn't it? I mean, females with that condition have them, too, right?
Hi
Thank you all for your answer
I live mostly in Emmervile near San Francisco but willing to travel anywhere for this surgery
If shaving / shortening the bones is problematic , tightening the skin all around the hand will be helpful too
Hand surgery is a very specialised field of orthopaedic surgery and plastic surgery. I would get a referral from your family doctor to see a specialist and they will then give you an informed comment. People here will only speculate and that isn't going to be a much use for such a problem.
Cindy
As Cindy has suggested, you will need to see a specialist orthopaedic surgeon who does surgery on hands for a proper opinion.
I would suspect that what they can do is going to be rather limited given the complexity of the anatomy - the risks of
a) altered/lost sensation or permanent pain from nerve damage
b) loss of motor control vs the reward will probably mean that very few surgeons would contemplate surgery on a perfectly functional hand.
It's different to orthopaedic surgery on long bones, or even on the face, as the sensory nerve density is much more sparse in those areas, there are more safe access points so to speak.
As for adverse results - you can live with a numb forehead, but numb fingers or non-mobile fingers are detrimental to one's quality of life - ask anyone with crippling osteo-arthritis in their fingers.
because it is very important to me i will not give up until finding a solution.
If won't find a solution that is safe enough i will put it a side but i have to try loonking..
http://www.skullbaseinstitute.com/papers/surgical-correction-acromegalic-face-part1.htm (http://www.skullbaseinstitute.com/papers/surgical-correction-acromegalic-face-part1.htm)
This is just a text about the face, but perhaps the references in the bottom can help you in your research. Since the correction of the face -is- done, perhaps you could also call the places where they do that surgery and inquire about whether they know of a possibility of correcting the hands. I think those people, probably very familiar with the condition, should know if there is anything you can do.
there is a surgeon in chicago who does hand related stuff (both cosmetic and non-cosmetic)
http://www.hobbsplasticsurgery.com/procedures/hand-surgery (http://www.hobbsplasticsurgery.com/procedures/hand-surgery)
What about foot surgery? Is it possible to get one's foot a bit smaller? I am a size 10-11, right now, and it is hard to find shoes in such a big size... I would rather be an 8 or 9...
Anybody know how to do that?
Cheers,
Andi :-)
In theory, it should be the same difficulty as the hands - unlikely, risky, etc. And anyway, your feet are far from being the end of the world. They surely wouldn't warrant the shortcomings of surgery - if there even is a surgery available.
Finally, HRT reduces the size of feet slightly, sometimes. Just hope for that.
Hi A,
Thanks. Well, I know that having women's 10 is not the end of the world, but they are still pretty biog... :-(
What size do you have, female?
:-)
Andi
Toe shortening is done all the time, for medical and aesthetic reasons:
http://www.plasticsurgeryportal.com/articles/toe-shortening-reduction/232 (http://www.plasticsurgeryportal.com/articles/toe-shortening-reduction/232)
Kate Winslet has US size 11 feet. Hasn't stopped her.
Me? I wear more or less US Women's sizes 8-9 (39-41 depending on the conversion chart o.o)... But don't envy too fast. My feet are so incredibly high and wide that they fit in few shoes, and they're so uglily full of veins that I wouldn't show them to anyone.
I think i found the name of the problem - Macrodactylia
http://www.assh.org/Members/Benefits/ImageLibrary/ASSHImageLibrary/Forms/AllItems.aspx?RootFolder=%2fMembers%2fBenefits%2fImageLibrary%2fASSHImageLibrary%2fMacrodactylia&FolderCTID=0x0120001CC1C816C5D2D843AEC86503F0F78AA (http://www.assh.org/Members/Benefits/ImageLibrary/ASSHImageLibrary/Forms/AllItems.aspx?RootFolder=%2fMembers%2fBenefits%2fImageLibrary%2fASSHImageLibrary%2fMacrodactylia&FolderCTID=0x0120001CC1C816C5D2D843AEC86503F0F78AA)
It can accure in the feet/ toes or hands that are enlarge
There are surgeons like who deal with this :
http://getbetterhealth.com/tag/macrodactylia-fibrolipomatosis (http://getbetterhealth.com/tag/macrodactylia-fibrolipomatosis)
I have super long toes, and I mean SUPER long!
With normal toes I would be a US 8 female instead of US 10-11 female...
I think I will have to look into the surgery, if it is not too expensive!!!
Friendly greetings,
Andi
If there's something to help you, all is fine, but I'm sure this surgery is not without risks/aftereffects, so make sure you ask the right questions at your consultation if you go to one.