Esthetic prostheses in minor and major upper limb amputations

The value and impact of esthetic prostheses on amputee rehabilitation and t heir long-term use were evaluated in 89 patients. The outcomes were found t o have no correlation with the severity of injury and level of amputation. The utilization rate for digital prostheses fitted for single-digit amputat ions after 5 years was 63%, whereas that for multiple-digit, hand, and more proximal amputations remained consistently high at more than 80%. The high prosthesis utilization in the authors' series could be attributed to the a vailability of an adjunct prosthetic program.