The topic of vascular anomalies is uncommon in the hand surgery literature, but hand surgeons do diagnose and treat patients with hemangiomas and vascular malformations. These are separate entities and require different treatment strategies. Proper diagnosis will lead to timely and appropriate treatment.

When these results are projected to the total workforce, they indicate that there will be a future shortage of plastic surgeons in Canada. To prevent a further deficit, there is a need to increase the number of plastic surgery trainees in Canada, to offer incentives for graduates to stay in Canada, and to possibly recruit more foreign-trained plastic surgeons to practice within Canada.