Recovery of sensibility after suture of digital nerves.

A group of 49 patients with 74 injured digital nerves was studied more than 5 years following epineurial nerve suture. Three tests of return of sensibility were used: von Frey plastic filaments, a modified Weber two-point discrimination device, and a dynamic test--the plastic ridge. The correlation between two-point discrimination and tactilegnosis in the range of 8 to 12 mm was poor. The plastic ridge device detects the presence or absence of tactilegnosis in patients in the intermediate range of two-point discrimination between 8 and 12 mm. Of the factors studied, the patient's age at the time of nerve suture was found to be directly related to the return of sensibility by both two-point discrimination and ridge criteria.