Hi, I live in Cardiff which is in South Wales, UK. I have Macrodactyly of my left thumb, i also have a slightly wider index finger at the base but it is not very noticeable.
When i was a child i did not know why i had a 'big thumb'as i called it. I had yearly checkups at my local hospital but they decided not to do any operations as they thought it would give me more problems e.g loss of feeling and look cosmetically worse, and as it was not giving me any problems and i could use it nearly normally i was glad not to have an operation.
I was discharged and didn't see any docotors about it untill approx 3 years ago at the age of 32 when i started noticing a lump appearing on my knuckle. It was very painful to press and if i it accidently hit it.
I was refered by my G.P to see a specialist called Mr. Murison, although he deals in this area he had never seen mainly just a thumb affected by Macrodactyly.
He x-rayed it and said that i had a spur growing on the joint, which i had removed, but he said it was very likely it would grow back.
Since Jan this year i have had sharp pains in my palm, tingling fingers and it has been very painful just doing everyday things, I went back to see Mr.Murison and had it x-rayed he was shocked to see how much the arthritis had accelerated since i had last seen him 3 years ago. He said that every joint has arthritis on it except the knuckle joint where he had removed it. I was sent for a C.T scan as he now suspects Carpel Tunnel Syndromme the most likely cause of most of the pain.
I am going to see him again on Wednesday to see what he think is the best thing to do.
I am really worried about how this is going to affect the future, as i found i quite difficult to manage when it was so painful, and had to be given light duties in work.
I was so pleased to find this website and read that there are other people with Macrodactyly out there as when i was growing up it felt like i was the only one!
