Ten patients had proximal interphalangeal joint arthroplasty performed for either an irreparible injury or the seqelae of trauma between September of 2000 and January of 2003 following the availability of the latest generation of constrained and nonconstrained prostheses. There were 5 males and 5 females with an average age of 38 years (range 15 - 75 years), 6 dominant hands and 4 nondominant hands.There were 2 fracture dislocations, 1 pilon fracture, 2 late-presenting dorsal dislocations, and 5 patients with post traumatic arthritis. One injury was to the index finger, 3 to the middle finger, and 6 to the ring finger. An unconstrained bicondylar prosthesis was used for the index finger and a constrained plastic prosthesis preflexed to 15 degrees was used in the remaining joints. Follow-up was from 4 to 31 months (average 13 months). All patients had complete or nearly complete pain relief and none required pain medication beyond the immediate postoperative period. Each returned to their previous job with no or minimal restrictions (7 patients) or to their previous activity level (3 patients). Motion was excellent in 5 patients, good in 4 patients, and fair in 1 patient. Grip strength was slightly compromised in 8 patients(less than 25 percent loss compared to the uninvolved hand) and moderately decreased (25-50 percent loss) in 2 patients. All patients were satisfied with their results. The design changes of the newest generation of proximal interphalangeal joint prostheses provide provide good to excellent early results for salvage of irreparible injuries and symptomaic posttraumatic arthritis of the proximal interphalangeal joint with prospects for greater longevity than their preacessors. The bicondylar prothesis allows the index finger proximal interphalangeal joint to be treated by arthroplasty which was previously not feasable with plastic prostheses owing to their instability during pinching activities.