Professor Simon Kay says -The surgery of congenital abnormalities of the hand is challenging and intricate, and this field attracts some of the most skilled and capable surgeons in the world. But, in treating children with such conditions, too few surgeons recognize that they are treating the child, the parents and the family. In fact, they are also treating someone who is not yet present: the future adult. To recognize that they are not simply treating an anatomical abnormality but a large intertwined group of people is difficult for some surgeons, and so this book should be compulsory reading. In fact it should be compulsory for all health care professionals interacting with children with congenital differences, and their families, because it will enable them to hear, and what they hear from the experiences in this book will remind them that the surgery is not the most important part of what they do. It should also teach lessons in courage and duty that will humble many.

Notes

Simon Kay, is Professor of Hand Surgery at the University of Leeds and a consultant Hand and Plastic and Reconstructive surgeon at the Leeds Teaching Hospital, UK. Simon is also a Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Umeä, Sweden. He has developed one of the largest children's hand surgery services in the UK and has focused on microsurgery in reconstruction of congenital defects of children's hands. His research also includes brachial plexus surgery and nerve repair. He co-edited the world's major textbook in children's hand surgery, The Growing Hand. He led the first series of comprehensive syllabus based European instructional courses in hand surgery. He was the President of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand in 2007 and is president elect of the British Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons.