A new surgical strategy for reconstruction of claw nail deformity

Abstract

Claw nail deformity is common in patients with fingertip injury. The optimal reconstruction remains unclear. We devised a unique strategy for reconstruction of claw nail deformity. We divided the approach into three parts: soft tissue reconstruction, bone graft and nail bed graft. In the soft-tissue reconstruction, a reverse digital arterial finger flap for the finger or an extended palmar flap advancement with V-Y plasty for the thumb was selected. A part of the distal phalanx of the second toe including periosteum was harvested as a bone graft. A nail bed graft from the big toe was performed. We reconstructed in 11 cases of claw nail deformity using our strategy. All cases achieved significant improvement with no recurrence of the claw nail deformity. Moreover, there was no donor site morbidity.

Keywords:

• Claw nail deformity
• bone graft
• nail bed graft
• reverse digital arterial flap
• advancement flap

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

There are no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to report.