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“The biggest risk of surgery would be infection and that’s less than 1%. It’s very uncommon to develop an infection after carpal tunnel syndrome – although not impossible. Other possible complications would be incomplete release of the transverse carpal ligament. That’s the actual ligament that’s compressing the median nerve, and if that were not to be fully decompressed, then it is possible that the symptoms would not fully resolve. Other potential issues after surgery would include pillar pain, which is pain in the palm after splitting the transverse carpal ligament. It’s actually pain in the bony region on either side of the incision. That generally resolves over the course of weeks to months. Sometimes a course of hand therapy can be helpful for that. Another very common finding after surgery is incisional pain – meaning that the incision itself (where the procedure is done) is tender, but that generally resolves within 6-12 weeks.
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