To answer the OP's question, i had it open and it was explained to me that there is a greatly reduced risk of needing the surgery repeated later on this way. Mine was about 15 years ago. Both hands were done 2 weeks apart so that i could take care of things i'd rather not ask my wife to do. You know what i'm talking about. My hands have been perfect since, save for a bit of arthritis setting in but that's unrelated.

It was probably 8 weeks before i could return to installation work but some things were still very painful to do at that point. The worst was pushing down with the palm of my hand. Make sure you get ultrasound treatments on your hands to soften the scar tissue as it heals or you may end up with painful lumps of scar tissue where the surgery was done.

Now while we are comparing war wounds, i had to give up my job and leave the industry after having spinal fusion surgery in my neck and almost 3 years off work. Admittedly a good part of that time was waiting for the surgery and then finding a new job afterwards when i realised i couldn't return to the job i had due to physical limitations.
As it turned out, i now earn 3 times the wage i used to, work from home (no commute to and from work rocks) and get to travel all over Australia and overseas a couple of times a year as well, so it's hard to complain.