Pyrocarbon thumb joint replacement

I am a 66 year old female retired pharmacist. I've had bilateral CMC arthritis for years due to positioning child proof caps for prescriptions. I had a pyrocarbon implant done in my left thumb in 2009 with great success. When my right thumb went beyond bad 2 years ago I had injections about every 3 months that really helped but I knew it wasn't the answer. The original implant was no longer made and I had no interest in the tendon implant. Saw too many patients that weren't happy with the results. So I traveled back to Chicago to my original hand surgeon. He had been to a hand conference and called me about the Stablyx implant. He did several practice surgeries and I am his first candidate. I am 12 days out and in a splint for 4 weeks. Doing OT twice weekly for 12 weeks. I also have several hobbies that require my thumbs so I am very hopeful. When the splint is off for showering the pain is minimal. However I am not to use any pinch force for 3 more weeks, hence the splint.. I will post again in a few weeks and update my progress. Thanks.

@pharmd welcome to our group its great to hear of your successful thumb implant my thumbs are both bad maybe because of my nursing .Im interested in hearing your update I went to hand ortho he said to use volteran cream if that doesn't help he,ll inject

Hi @pharmd - Welcome to the group and thank you for a very informative post. I'm very interested in this. I have increasingly painful arthritis in my thumbs. My two big hobbies are quilting and stained glass so I need my thumbs in working order. I'm wishing you the best in your recovery - and it sounds as if you are approaching the 2 week mark and doing very well. Are you right handed? If so, I imagine the loss of use of that right hand is more intrusive than your previous surgery. Please do post updates. I'm going to follow your recovery!

@var122
Hi! I want to ask you how are you feeling? How is your pain? I also have arthritis of the cmc joint. I have had two steroid shots with pain relief lasting five days with the first shot, three weeks from the second one. The doctor I am currently being treated by wants to perform the anchoring procedure which I will not consider having. Are you pain-free now? I am a surgical tech, and it’s becoming harder every day to put on gloves due to the pressure they cause on my joint. I usually wear a size seven glove. I am up to a size 8 and wrapping my hand with coban to give me some support during long cases. The most crucial question are you happy with your results?

I am at day 18. I can touch my fingertips on my right dominant hand with my operated thumb. I'm only allowed passive therapy through next week. I'm only taking acetaminophen (APAP) 500mg, 2 tabs twice daily and 1 hydrocodone/APAP plus 1 APAP at night. Still wearing my splint through next week as well. My surgeon made it clear I was not to use any pinch motion with thumb and forefinger. I'm following directions to ensure my recovery. I continue to be very hopeful. If this doesn't work I can still do the LRTI procedure. I can write very poorly but using a roller ball pen is much easier since not a lot of pressure required. I even filled out my own election ballot. After thanksgiving I'll move to more aggressive therapy. I can't open anything with twist off cap. My husband will be glad when I'm back to normal. Hoping to be able to make Christmas cookies with branch. I'll send pictures with next post. Thanks for all your positive thoughts.

@pharmd

Thank you for your update. I wish you the best in your recovery. I am still staying to find a surgeon in San Antonio or Austin that work with the implant.

I wonder why my surgeon opted to just take the offending bone out for me and replace it with my tendon rather than this way ? I had my left one done with no probs but my right is still giving me probs after 7 yrs.I still have pain and a lot less strength than my left which is a problem cos I'm right handed. I hope this is successful for u.

Hi - Sorry if I am not doing this right but I am trying to comment on the group discussion, not one in particular. Has anyone had nerve pain after the stablyx implant. I am two weeks out and everything seems good except for a very painful burning sensation along the outside of my thumb that the dr. says is nerve pain. She says it should go away but my research is showing it might not.

I'm finally back!! and finished with 12 weeks of OT for my right dominant CMC Stablyx procedure. It's doing great. I had final range of motion measurements taken and they meet or even exceed my left hand (pyrocarbon, 2009). I still need more strengthening but I can do that at home. To the writer about the nerve pain...I have no pain but I did have serious bruising that went from wrist to elbow post-op. My surgeon explained that he had to lift a specific nerve out of the way so that it would not get caught in the scar tissue. Whatever he did the bruise disappeared and I have no nerve pain. Not sure this is your problem, just a thought. Would I do this again? You bet. If this new implant fails for whatever reason I can still have the LRTI. But I feel confident this will last. As with any implant it takes a year before your mind forgets you have something in that joint (had both knees replaced and speak from experience). I just have to use it responsibly. I was baking and decorating cakes before Christmas and sewing/quilting by the same time. I still have trouble opening caps on stubborn bottles but I've sent for a device I hope will help. In the meantime I still rely on the wonderful husband. You need to have confidence in the hand surgeon you choose. Although I was his first patient for the Stablyx my surgeon did a conference with the inventing doctor from Miami and performed several dry surgeries before attempting mine. He also had an assistant from the Stablyx during the surgery in the event of any complication, which did not happen thankfully. He had performed my first implant in 2009 and removed a glomus tumor from my left finger nail that had caused excruciating pain for nearly 20 years. Both of those surgeries are still great. Not everyone should have this procedure but it's worth looking at your options. Thanks for reading this long post. I'm sorry but I could not get any photos to load.