Mr James Henderson

I am a Consultant Plastic and Hand Surgeon and I specialise in hand surgery and surgery for skin lesions – moles, cysts, and skin cancers, particularly those in critical cosmetic sites like the ears, nose and face. I attend the regional skin cancer multidisciplinary meeting every week. I perform a wide range of hand and wrist procedures, specialising in the treatment of Dupytrens’ disease with surgery or collagenase injections, carpal tunnel syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome, trigger finger, DeQuerveins tenosynovitis, ganglions, and arthritis of the hand and wrist.

I was appointed as a Consultant Plastic and Hand Surgeon at North Bristol NHS Trust (Regional Major Trauma Centre) in 2012. After training at Oxford and Cambridge, I completed surgical training in Edinburgh before spending two years as a lecturer in wound healing at the University of Manchester, researching scar reducing treatments and nerve regeneration after injury, and working in the department of Plastic Surgery. I was awarded MD for my research and FHEA for my teaching work.

I completed six years of specialist training in Plastic Surgery in the Cambridge deanery before undertaking the prestigious Nottingham advanced training post in cosmetic and facial reconstructive surgery. I also completed 18 months of advanced training fellowships in hand surgery in leading UK units.

I am now the senior hand surgeon at the Bristol Major Trauma centre, so in the NHS I deal with reconstruction of severe hand injuries. I treat hundreds of broken hand bones each year, and do many complex reconstructions. I also do large numbers of operations for nerve compressions like cubital and carpal tunnel, and for arthritis of the hand and wrist. I have treated hundreds of patients for Dupuytrens’ disease. I have performed thousands of operations for skin cancer and benign skin lesions, the majority of these in difficult or highly visible sites, and hundreds of plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures on the breast and abdomen. I am a full member of the professional organisations for Plastic Surgery (BAPRAS) and Hand Surgery (BSSH).

I sit on various managerial committees at North Bristol NHS trust, and I chair the multidisciplinary hand surgery team. I organised and chaired the British Society for Surgery of the hand research study day 2015. I am director of a hand surgery course every year in Bristol. I teach on various other national courses, and for the national and European diplomas in hand surgery. As a consultant in one of the largest Plastic Surgery departments in the UK, I am responsible for the training and supervision of a number of trainee Plastic Surgeons. I have been invited onto the faculty of the prestigious AO international organisation to teach the management of hand fractures and injuries.

I am the lead hand surgeon at North Bristol NHS Trust (Southmead Hospital), the regional Major Trauma Centre.

I sit on the national research committees for both plastic surgery (BAPRAS) and hand surgery (BSSH). I have over 60 publications and many academic awards and prizes. I have been invited overseas to present my research on cosmetic surgery, and previously won the Michael Hackett Memorial Prize of the British Association for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. I teach on various UK courses and I am director of a hand surgery course in Bristol. I am chief investigator for a national multicentre trial for a common hand injury.