Decided to give it another hour after OP. Stayed home and waited; clotted about 45 min after, enough so that peeling off the paper with a little warm water didn’t pull it open. Bacitracin then. Numbness was worrisome. Matched that of next door neighbor finger, which I jagged open with the damn aluminum-foil foil box tear off teeth–and yes, it was the first time ever, and man that was two weeks ago.
Cut was smaller and less deep than I feared. Now I can press it and feel clear steady yup it still hurts with still a tingle of numb which I can still feel (oxymoronically) but is lost in the sauce of my calloused-fingertip-non-feeling-much-but-pressure anyway. (Note to self: learn English).
I have in the past done such deep near-slice-off-pad bits where I could feel a chunk really slip sliding, and most definitely would have gone to the ER if I wasn’t sure in the next 20 minutes.
This glue you mention–people-protein glue? It crossed my mind to use some meat glue I have in the kitchen, but an ER was just a few blocks away.
Dermabond is the name brand I’m most familiar with. 2-octyl cyanoacrylate. It’s related to, but not identical to, Superglue/Krazy Glue. It’s a bit less likely to cause burns than Superglue/Krazy Glue, and it’s more flexible when dry, which makes it antimicrobial for longer.
So, um, don’t just Superglue your two year old’s forehead back together because you don’t have money for the ER and it was just a tiny bit longer than a pencil eraser anyway and barely left a scar and she’s just fine, I swear!
And don’t worry about the piano. My brother was a concert-level pianist and a career infantry officer during Vietnam and afterwords. Between normal combat and smoking all his life, his fingerpads look interesting to say the least and its never effected his music. And he’s at the level of being pretty much a known name in church music circles.
Well the fucker opened up again on a dog walk when I grabbed the leash instinctively.
Esteemed members of the medical community, gather round, observe, deliberate. Presenting: My Boo-Boo My Boo-Boo earlier this morning and 10 minutes ago.
It bled a lot after that, but actually froze-clotted outside.
Isn’t this a fun thread?
Out of an (over?)abundance of caution, after looking at the link, I edited the prior post to conform to the two-click rule. Given the topic of the thread and the descriptions within, however, you get what you pay for, folks.
On the plus side, though, spoilering the photo link just adds to the intrigue, no?
Wow, you sound like I did when I tried to convince myself that I didn’t need stitches. I wasn’t quite 13 yet, though, and got over-ruled by Mom; seven stitches later it seemed as though she was right. Go get it looked at already.
I have looked at it. Official “mom” here. Also lots and lots of first responder training (my employers wanted to have their own team on site before calling the guys with the fancy trucks). Not a Nurse. Not a Doc. Don’t know you. Etc. Etc. Consider me triage.
Go and get it looked at. It’s “re-opening”. The edges are not together. The longer you wait, the worse it’ll be. Just go. Don’t you want to have a nice finger that works and feels and stuff? (Trying out the mom guilt thing there.)
No ---- but the OP should indeed go to the ER and have someone check out his/her paw ----- er, cut.
All kidding aside, that does look like it could become slightly annoying (long term heavy scar and/or dead and numb tissue) but easily treated if you get there soon. Next week isn’t soon; basically by tomorrow evening is soon.
Wow. It now looks and feels more or less, if slightly better, than the “before” picture from this morning. (At the risk of malpractice, I’ll forego imagery for review.)
I really figured I’d let it go. But – and it’s worth noting certainly as a Internet/social dynamic phenomenon on a personal level – I’ll go to my doctor in a day or two based on the collective opinion (the Uncle of my dog–that dog, named Yofi, not Boo-Boo, is at Westminster tomorrow morning).* I hope that won’t damage my prognosis.
Of course when my wife finds out that her opinion counted less than you’all, it won’t be pretty. Maybe I won’t tell her, and feel superior about my prudence and care.
*Yet again Leo gets to mention that in SD! And it wasn’t even dragged in from left field, although of course no one forced me to say it.
Oh fuck. I’ll wait 20 minutes after the Herding Group is over. 1 Gig PDF and iBook should hold me over while I feel like a jerk (a sleepy jerk) as my case is triaged to “huh, who?”
Actually, a storefront “urgent care” thing opened up a few months ago near me; I have no idea if that’s a better place than the ER for this. On the other hand, the ER has my data from what seems like bi-monthly visits since 1990…
I lucked out. Amazingly empty ER. Got to translate for someone, so that was good.
As Dr. WhyNot indicated, too late for “maybe three stitches” yesterday. No fat showing, no necrosis on flap edge. Got tetanus shot. Keep covered, Bacitraicin. Will close in a week, maybe; numbness up to year, can’t tell which nerve(s) cut. Referred to orthopedic hand surgeon (!), what with me being a pianist, if it bothers me in weeks to come. Keep eye on it, etc.
I had a similar slice, 35 years ago, and went to urgent care right away to get it stitched.
I did lose some sensitivity in that fingertip, for what it’s worth - I think it’s inevitable with nearly severing the flap of skin. The finger works just fine aside from that - I play the piano as well (er, badly) as I did before the injury. If I press hard on the finger pad I can just see the outline of the cut.
It’s now 2 days after Leo sliced himself - at this point even if you were still having trouble, I gather it’s too late for stitches. But do keep a VERY close eye on it - it probably bled enough that infection isn’t a huge issue but being diabetic will indeed complicate healing.
