Plastic surgeon Mr. Chris Coombs performed a world first procedure at Royal Children’s Hospital by using a little boy’s ‘extra’ finger as a spare part on his other hand.
Timothy Hristodoulou, now four years old, was born with hand deformities. Tim’s parents Sandra and George knew from prenatal tests that he would be born with some problems. However they viewed his hand deformities as purely cosmetic problems that could be fixed.
Tim’s left hand was described by his mother as a ‘lobster claw’; he had a thumb, an index finger, no middle finger, a ring finger and a half-pinky finger. The ring finger and pinky were fused together.
His other hand was almost right – except for the spare little finger between his pinky and ring finger.
Eighteen months ago Tim’s index finger was moved to where the missing middle finger should be to close the cleft in the middle of his hand. And in February this year, Mr Coombs successfully removed the spare finger from Tim’s right hand, separated the ring and little fingers on his left hand and microsurgically relocated the spare finger to its new position, atop the half pinky on Tim’s left hand.
Such a procedure has not been documented anywhere in the world. Mr Coombs is confident the surgery has been successful and Tim will eventually have a fully functioning left hand.
“When we are confronted with unusual problems in reconstructive plastic surgery you sometimes have to ‘think outside the box’ to find the answer that best suits the problem”, said Mr Coombs. “In Tim’s case we have been able to maximize the function and aesthetics by microsurgically transferring this ‘spare part’ “.
Tim’s parents couldn’t be more thrilled with the outcome of the surgery. He returned to kindergarten this year with his hand in a splint and has been entertaining his classmates with party tricks – wriggling the new pinky from within the bandages.
Sandra and George look forward to Tim beginning school in two years with two hands – just like his classmates. Media is invited to meet Tim, his parents and Mr Chris Coombes at RCH tomorrow.
- DATE Wednesday 9th April 2003
- TIME 10.30am
- PLACE Ella Latham Meeting Room, 1st Floor
Royal Children’s Hospital - ENQUIRIES Call Julie Webber 9345 5522 and page or 0407 327 418.
This story gained coverage on all television coverage Australia wide, on all networks. The story and pictures appeared in: Herald Sun, The Age, MX Newspaper.