There are several common hand conditions present in newborns, including syndactyly (webbed fingers), polydactyly (accessory digits), digital contracture (camptodactyly and clinodactyly), trigger fingers, short fingers (brachydactyly) and large fingers (macrodactyly).
If left untreated, these conditions can interfere with the development and function of the hand as the child grows.

The timing of congenital hand surgery procedures can vary depending on the severity of the deformity and the development of the child.

There are many different corrective surgical procedures available. Some examples include:

• Syndactyly correction - This is a condition in which two or more adjacent digits, fingers or toes, are fused together. If the fusion involves soft tissue only, it is a simple syndactyly, but if there is bone involved, the syndactyly is said to be complex.
• Surgery for Polydactyly (accessory digits) - In this condition, there are more toes, fingers or thumbs than normal. This may present as a small nubbin of tissue which can be simply removed. More commonly it is a separate structure with bones and joints and on rarer occasions, it may be a supernumerary, fully functioning digit. The treatment is usually surgical removal, most commonly in early childhood.
• Pollicisation - A technique in which a thumb is created from an existing finger. Typically this consists of surgically migrating the index finger to the position of the thumb in patients who are either born without a functional thumb (most common) or in patients who have lost their thumb traumatically and are not amenable to other preferred methods of thumb reconstruction such as toe-to-hand transfers.