Hand surgery focuses on the study of congenital and acquired defects of the hand and wrist that compromise the function of the hand and their treatment by medical, surgical, or physical methods.

Hand surgery includes the investigation, preservation, and restoration by medical, surgical, and rehabilitative means of all structures of the upper extremity directly affecting the form and function of the hand and wrist. A hand surgery educational program is designed to educate physicians in the art and sciences of hand surgery and to develop a competent hand surgeon who is capable of independent function. The educational program should provide experience in the repair, resection, and reconstruction of defects of form and function of the hand; in the design, construction, and transfer of flaps and the transplantation of tissues, including microsurgery of multiple tissues; in surgical and ancillary methods of treatment of tumors; in management of complex wounds; and in the use of alloplastic materials.