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Cosmetic SiteBasilar Joint Arthritis
What is Basilar Joint Arthritis?
The joint at the base of the thumb has much more stress on it than any other joint in the fingers and is the most common source of early arthritis, in women’s hands particularly. The bones are held together by ligament support and those ligaments become stretched out over a lifetime of pinching. As the ligaments stretch, the joint gets looser and the bones start drifting apart and wearing around the edges.
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What are the treatment options?
Conservative therapy includes the use of splints, anti-inflammatory medicines, and cortisone injections. None of these will cure the problem but all will give some control of pain. If pain control is insufficient with conservative therapy, then there are several good surgical alternatives.
Patient’s who put high stress on their thumbs in manual labor jobs tend to do best with thumb fusion, which makes the joint solid bone, controlling the pain and preserving strength but sacrificing a small amount of motion. For patients with less stress demands on their thumbs and need for more motion, the joint can be removed and be replaced with a spacer made up of either tendon, plastic, or ceramic ball.
Surgery is done as an outpatient under general anesthetic and recovery takes 6-12 months depending on the procedure chosen.