Got my finger caught in a car door yesterday. Wrong place wrong time, as they say.
It hurts like a mofo. And it’s swollen up quite a bit, lotsa blood under the nail.
or flickr.com/photos/48967042@N02/4623403933/
Should I have it tended to at the hospital or just let it be?
<not sure why the pic doesn’t display>
Sure, get it checked. IMO you should have packed it in ice then gone to have it checked yesterday.
Could be broken, mate. The longer you leave getting treatment for fractures, the more difficult they are to set. Pack it in ice, like DB says, and pack your ass off to hospital. Play safe.
Edit: Just looked at the pic. You a pussy or what? 
Do you play for the Stormers? 
I did put it in some ice water when I got home. Not sure what they could do though - drain the fluid? Naturally it will be swollen for some time after…
Good move, but quicker is better. They sell bags of ice at convenience stores and there’s ice in soda machines and at shaved ice places so it’s not like you won’t find some within a stone’s throw at the time of injury. 
As for fluid, I’ve read they might drain it, but I don’t really know. However, they can x-ray it for fractures, which will help you know how long to rest it even if they don’t cast or splint it, and they might give you an anti-inflammatory or something. 
You’re in some Chinese backwater, aren’t you, Baas? Does that explain your reticence to get “professional” treatment?
Xiamen, just across the pond. I’m not fond of any hospital, particularly Chinese ones.
But I could head to the university hospital tomorrow first thing…
I was going to suggest going to the hospital to get it dreined - they drill a hole in the nail, which relieves the pressure - until I read you are in China. Is it rural backwater China? Even if it isn’t, I’d be a little leery of letting them poke you with some potentially contaminated needle.
It’s likely you’ll lose that nail, from the looks of it, but it’s not completey dead. That’s really going to turn into a mess that is not easy to tend by yourself if the bottom portion of your dead nail is flapping about while the top part is still attached. Good luck with that. Maybe just keep it wrapped in bandages until the top of the nail grows out?
I thik you should go for that ex-ray and you could always refuse any proposed procedures that you don’t feel comfortable with, right?
You lot got me nipping a bit now. Guess it’s off to the hospital tomorrow. Don’t fancy the idea of getting drilled in my nail. nor keeping a bandage on it in the summer months. But fook me, it’s painful right now!
Well you can drill it yourself, just make sure the drill bit is sterile (moving the drill bit by hand, coming into the top of the nail). Then put some alcohol on it and apply ointment. Repeat the alcohol and ointment for the next ten days. Done about the same self inflicted injury a couple times with a car door and hood. The drilling and relieving of pressure will cut down on the throbbing and allow you to sleep. Not bad, until you hit the layer of skin under the nail itself, but it is not that thick and under it is blood so you will be fine.
If you can not find a drill bit (small sucker for sure), a needle will do the trick. Just come in between the nail and the skin (along where the two meet, starting at the tip of the finger), it will hurt a bit more but the relief from the throbbing caused by the pressure will be more then worth it. From your picture there is a somewhat close spot of entry to the blood pointing up in the middle of the nail, aim for there.
Since it has been a few days, there will be some puss with the blood coming out, squeeze the hell out of it to make sure it is all out. Not pleasant either, but it either needs to be done or you live in extreme discomfort for a lot longer. The nail could be salvageable, but that is something time will tell.
If you can bend your finger as much as you do in the picture it is not broken,
That is my two cents on it, no need to see a doctor. GOOD LUCK!
[quote=“tcarnagan”]Well you can drill it yourself, just make sure the drill bit is sterile (moving the drill bit by hand, coming into the top of the nail). Then put some alcohol on it and apply ointment. Repeat the alcohol and ointment for the next ten days. Done about the same self inflicted injury a couple times with a car door and hood. The drilling and relieving of pressure will cut down on the throbbing and allow you to sleep.
If you can not find a drill bit (small sucker for sure), a needle will do the trick. Just come in between the nail and the skin (along where the two meet, starting at the tip of the finger), it will hurt a bit more but the relief from the throbbing caused by the pressure will be more then worth it.
Since it has been a few days, there will be some puss with the blood coming out, squeeze the hell out of it to make sure it is all out. Not pleasant either, but it either needs to be done or you live in extreme discomfort for a lot longer. The nail could be salvageable, but that is something time will tell.
That is my two cents on it, no need to see a doctor. GOOD LUCK![/quote]
Haha! Love this guy! Time to prove you’re a Bull, not a Stormer! :roflmao:
tcarnagan - where do you and Bear go for beers on a Friday evening?
If you do drill it or puncture the nail somehow, I wouldn’t put a bandage on it. It’s too hot and humid where you are. Allowing the wound to breathe will help prevent infection.
Went in this morning to the hospital. Doc took one look and said “infected”. It was getting red AND white AND purple and bigger.
So, he got me on the table, injected local anesthetic into my finger, and removed the nail. After he cleaned it up and bandaged it.
This is how it looks now: flickr.com/photos/48967042@N02/4626233008/
And pre-finger pulling: flickr.com/photos/48967042@N02/4625627823/
There’s no way I would have done that on myself at home. I was happy with the doctor and the cleanliness of it all. Now I gotta chow antibiotics, and I have some painkillers too. No swimming or heavy bike riding for a while.
<still the images won’t load show here, but there are more on my Flickr page>
