Surgery Without the Runaround: A Simpler Path with Wide-Awake Hand Surgery
Have you ever been told you need surgery, only to face a daunting list of prerequisites? See a cardiologist, a pulmonologist, a hematologist. Get a chest X-ray, an EKG, blood tests. For most patients over 55 or those with a significant medical history, anesthesia demands this exhaustive workup. But what if anesthesia wasn’t even necessary? That’s the reality for millions of patients with hand pain—conditions that could be treated simply under local anesthetic in an office setting. Instead, they’re shuffled off to Ambulatory Surgical Centers or, worse, told they’re “too high risk” and must trek to a main hospital.
This frustration inspired me to launch Heritage Hand and Plastic Surgery in mid-Michigan, opening April 1st, 2025. Our mission is to serve hand and plastic surgery patients tired of being deemed unfit for surgery, exhausted by preoperative visits to multiple specialists, and fed up with outdated rules like fasting from midnight—especially burdensome for diabetics. They’re tired of being told they can’t drive post-anesthesia and of the lingering brain fog that can follow. When we avoid anesthesia, none of this is necessary. The patient and I simply get the job done together in the office.
Hand surgery can—and often should—be done wide awake. Anesthesia techniques have evolved rapidly, and I’ve had the privilege of authoring the U.S. national guidelines on painless local anesthesia in the office setting. For 80% of my patients, this approach works beautifully. No tourniquets, no sedation, no endless testing—just effective, straightforward care.
At Heritage Hand and Plastic Surgery, we’re flipping the script. Why subject patients to the stress and inconvenience of a system designed around anesthesia when a simpler, safer alternative exists? Wide-awake surgery eliminates the barriers, empowering patients to reclaim control over their health. No more jumping through hoops—just results. This is surgery reimagined for the people it’s meant to serve.
