Just to clarify, there’s no fetish here :dubious:. And yes, I know it would be ‘OK’ if there was one Actually, I’ve come up with a consumer medical product that could help people who have had their fingernail removed to heal more quickly.
Does anybody know where the stats on how many surgical fingernail removal operations are done annually in the US, North America and worldwide??
Also, how many people present themselves at the ER with fingernails that have been torn off due to injury?
Even a point in the right direction; ie, where I *may * be able to find this kind of information would be *very * helpful. Is there a website that discloses these kinds of things for public review?
Or, even a weigh-in from ER personnel who could give me an approximate number of cases seen in a month, year, etc. would be fantastic. If you care to share which city and/or hospital in which you practice, that would be a great demographical-analysis bonus, too.
This is such a minor procedure that I doubt it is tracked.
FWIW I worked for 25 years as a physician in the ED–say 60k visits/yr–western suburbs of Chicago. Fingertip injuries are very common. You don’t always have to remove the whole nail; sometimes we just remove the distal portion. I suppose 1/week for our population service area might be a very broad guess.
I assume your product works on toenails too. For ingrown nails, esp the big toe, we’ll take off a border of nail on the involved side. Perhaps once or twice a week.
How does 25,000 fingernail or partial fingernail removals/year sound assuming a rough figure of 45 million ED visits/year. Of course that’s not the only place nails are removed.
This makes another good point…when you lose a toenail like this, it will usually hang around long enough for the bed to toughen up underneath before it falls off and might not need any kind of dressing.
Something you might not have considered: making and selling a medical product in the US it a bitch-fest. The FDA has so many sticks up its ass that the ability for an individual to manufacture and market a medical device is pretty much nill, unless you do it on a patient-by-patient basis (products that are custom made for an individual patient do not require FDA approval.) First, the device class is determined (based on what it’s for, it would most likely be a class I or class II.) Then you have to either file for an exemption, meaning you don’t have to prove it’s safe, or file a 510k, which is an application to start marketing/selling it, essentially. An exemption is for cases where a significantly similar product already exists and already has approval (for example, you’re just making a bandage that’s two inches bigger, or something.)
Hey, thanks! Chief Pedant: Thanks for sharing your personal experiences and for your stab at the stats… your medical input always appreciated.
Squink: Thanks for the laugh!
Bouv: Great point about the FDA. Since I lack the funds to patent, manufacture and market this device, I’m doing the next best thing AFAIK: I’ve contacted Johnson & Johnson’s R&D division to inquire about selling the intellectual property rights.
Actually, I’ve come up with a consumer medical product that could help people who have had their fingernail removed to heal more quickly.