flexNExT on hand healing process and info [regularly updated]

As requested by many, here are regular updates on the healing of my right hand (flexNeXT implanted on july 16):

Day 0

Nothing special, can easily scan through hand

Day 1

Slight sweling, not much pain. I’m keeping it elevated. Can’t scan through hand due to sweling. Full movement possible but I’m not pushing it.

Day 3

I can scan through-hand again! Slight pain spikes at the sutures but nothing to worry about :crossed_fingers:

Day 3

I cautiously used my hand today and it was ok, I will not keep it elevated anymore. Sutures look ok, will remove them in 6-7 days :grin: I noticed the implant has definitely turned. I will try to gently push it the way I want it :crossed_fingers:
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Day 4-5-6

No news good news. Nothing has changed. It has rotated about 10 more degrees…

Day 7

No more spinning it looks like. Other than that everything is fine.

Day 8-9

In two days I take the sutures off! Other than that I have tried to push it slightly to the left and up with no success. I can now fully move my hand, I can only feel it when closing my fist tight.



Day 10 Stitches off

Even though the wound is closed it might have been a bit early so I used 3 steristrips to keep it tight.



Day 11-12-13

The wound looks much better than it did on day 10. I now use silicone cream and leave it open with a single strip.

Day 14 Red circle of doom

After going to the climbing gym. It looks like some sort of allergy, maybe staph infection.

Day 15 Cortisone treatment

Went to the doctor this morning and they gave me Cortisone cream and pills :crossed_fingers: This is definitely not an infection but the fact that it appeared only on the implant is suspicious.

Day 17 Is it better?

The skin is less bumpy and the red patches look smaller and more spread out…

Day 18 Yes it is

The redness is now almost completely gone :mechanical_arm: Looks like the Cortisone did the job! The wound is wider on the side where the implant is pulling on it but it looks strong and healthy. I would have put something to keep it from stretching but with all the creams and irritation I decided not to.


Day 19 Almost gone!

Day 20 The red circle of death has been defeated!

Day 21- 22- 23- 24- 25- 26- 27- 28

Everything is back to normal. The wound is now flat and about 3mm at its widest where the implant is pulling the most. I would have used steristrips to keep it tight but the hole area has been covered in creams lately so I will just let it be.


Day 29 Fading scar

The wound is slowly but surely going away. This silicone cream does magic!


Q&As

  • Can you feel it at all when moving your hand? Very slight tension when tightening the fist, not an issue. Can do push ups and pull-ups fine.
  • Why do the purple LEDs look red? Blood pooling over them, should get purple soon.
  • Did it hurt? With anesthetic, not at all even during the first days.
  • Is it visible? Right now the thumb side edge pokes out a bit and the opposite side two. You can make out the entire contour when looking closely.
  • Is it flexible enough to fit through a smaller incision? I wouldn’t risk it personally, and 0.5cm less is not worth the effort. I would say 4cm is a minimum.
  • Are you taking any medicine while healing? Antibiotics during the first week and trying to eat healthy stuff. Silicone cream on the wound after stitches were removed. I took Cortisone to fight a weird rash (see day 14).
  • Is it migrating or moving? For now it is only rotating on itself at a rate of about 5-15 degrees/day (stopped rotating after a few days).
26 Likes

Following. Thanks for making the thread!

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Good news , day 2 and I can scan through my hand. Looks like it was in fact the swelling

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Man, now I am even more hyped to buy one

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Can I ask how much you were charged for the installation?

150€ for this and a Spark2 which is definitely a good price in my opinion :blush:

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That sounds great, My installer has a $100 minimum on chips (He did both the NeXT and xLED for the $100)

I’m waiting to see what he thinks about adding a power button subdermal on top of the new flex form factor. I think it’d be cool to have a power button light up when you get a read, but have concerns about how the subdermal would anchor with something like the flex under it.

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That’s a really good price! Mine was much more expensive lol

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I guess that might be difficult during healing time, for it might move a little on top of the chip… or you have to tape it in place somehow - or is it maybe possible to mold the subdermal directly to the chip? I know Haworth does some custom stuff, maybe you can contact him about that :wink:
And it will surely affect the reading distance… But if you get a good artist to get that done, please show some pictures of it!
But the idea is really nice, to be honest… I got one of those on my wrist, not LED-powered but just glowing in the dark, and I love the effect of it :wink:

Ah, just another concern - if you have something beneath your subdermal, the skin won’t reattach in the middle of it. So your power button might just stay a round-shaped object…

Day 4, it turns! Not the end of the world but I hope it won’t migrate.

Strange, didn’t think that could happen… was it gradually or did it turn suddenly, like after some special movement or anything?

On the positive side - it looks like there is almost no hematoma, just some swelling, so I guess the healing procedure is going fine so far? How much fun is it to move the hand?

Healing is going great and there’s no pain at all even when moving :grin: I have no idea but I think it was gradual because a move like that would have hurt.
That means it will keep spinning I guess or is it ? Nobody knows!

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Can you feel the edge of the implant at all when you bend your wrist either direction?

It’s kinda sad it did this, because it was placed so awesomely perfect!
Still looks very nice tho’. Maybe it was because of the pressure on the edge you saw? Is it still visible there?

Not at all

It’s only visible, there isn’t much pressure and I don’t think that would make it spin

That’s why I am so surprised it did - there is nothing it could catch on, so I really wonder what kind of movement made it spin. Maybe the underlying tendons, I don’t know :woman_shrugging:

But still, it looks great, so I hope you’re not too sad about its little movement!

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I’m okay with it spinning, it might do a 360 and come back to the initial position :joy:.
I think it’s the friction of the skin moving over it, and maybe the tendons???

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Use this for inspiration!

pOCebfs

I do wonder if it can continually spin since it never will heal to it if I understand correct.

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Yeah, that’s what I was referencing as far as anchoring.
I saw Amal made an implant with just the LEDs, and it had a hole in the center. Something like that might work. I’ve still got a bit of research I want to do before trying something that non-standard.

I was looking at those. My plan is to get a 1" button if I can’t get it on top of the chip, and was curious how well the glowing effect was.

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Interesting. Mine hasn’t turned at all, so I’m thinking the theory of the tendons moving it is likely.