Can I become a surgeon if I have shaky hands?

Most surgeons don’t need super steady hands. Surgeons specializing in finer work, especially those in cardiovascular or thoracic surgery, are more in need of steadiness. So the good news is most people have the hand dexterity it takes to cut it in general surgery. As long as they don’t experience tremors!

Do you need stable hands to be a surgeon?

Because of this complexity, even when using equipment to perform operations, surgeons’ movements need to be meticulous and controlled. Hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity often come down to natural ability; however, practice also helps improve those skills.

Do surgeons have tremors?

Having a tremor during microsurgery is not uncommon for beginning surgeons and can have a major impact on surgical technique and outcomes.

If the cause is some condition like Parkinsonism then probably a career in surgery cannot be advised. In first time surgery internees have shaky hands but that soon disappears. I know a colleague who was a maxillio-facial surgeon who had shaky hands. I have watched him operate.

Is it normal for my hands to shake a lot?

Not necessarily. Everyone’s hands shake to some degree. It’s rather inefficient for one muscle group to control hand movements and opposing groups alternate “firing” thus producing the shaking or tremor. The shaking of one’s hands is referred to as essential tremor. Good technique, practice and some strength training can diminish hand tremor.

What disqualifies you from becoming a surgeon if you have tremors?

What could disqualify you is if the tremor is due to some underlying injury or disease of the nervous or muscle tissue. (That would require diagnosis from a physician of course.) Most data, and the surgeons I know, indicate that hand eye coordination and dexterity are far more important than being tremor free.

Can my hands be steady enough to perform surgery?

Unless you have a primary movement disorder, such as essential tremor, your hands can become steadier through training—and most likely steady enough to perform most surgery. Most surgical techniques, as the others have mentioned, are more reliant upon manual execution of a motor plan than they are on steadiness per se.