Quite a few weeks ago, I cut open the skin at the base of my little finger (palm side) in a dumb accident recounted elsewhere on this board. It was a superficial wound, the skin was completely sliced through but that was all. It didn’t seem to bleed much considering and was closed up with two stitches. The doctor said it would be fine and that it was indeed superficial. The scar is now barely visible in the wrinkled skin around the joint.
But my finger refuses to close over fully eg when making a fist or grabbing something. It was sore for a little while but this went away. No nerves were severed because the skin is sensitive to touch like the rest of my fingers. So why won’t it close over like my other fingers? It is ever so slightly annoying when driving or moving stuff around.
Can you force it closed with your other hand? Will it stay that way or does it go back?
Was the accident a sharp shock? Maybe the finger is broken, and you don’t realize it. I broke a finger once playing basketball; it barely hurt when it broke, and I didn’t realize anything was wrong until I noticed it looking a little crooked.
It could be a severed tendon. See your doctor.
It will close over if pushed there by the other hand but doesn’t stay there. Although my hand slipped down and struck the frozen food it wasn’t a hard blow. As ever its probably best to see the doc but I feel less of a goon if I’m told there’s a good reason to do so.
Botox? (the new botulism injection that’s all the rave). I suppose since food containers were involved some nasties may have entered the wound.
Nerve damage? Hands are like snowflakes, no 2 are exactly alike. Possibly a nerve has been pinched by the stitches.
Subdermal infection? Scar tissue? Tendon damage? Ebola? take your pick. That’s why the doctors are the professionals. They see more trivial cases every day, and sadly, they see cases of people ignoring something until it’s too late every day as well. The doc won’t think you are a goon. He also won’t feel hurt or offended if you call him at his office and see if he thinks you should come in.
So call. Then go if he says so. You’ll look more goon-like if you have to explain to friends why you no longer have the use of your arm.
Quite :o how much of the worlds population would take death over feeling silly?
I agree with Qagop. I had a minor (and stupid) injury in college where I put my hand through a window. Although the cut was small and required only about 5-6 stitches, I managed to slice clean through my tendon. Fortunately, the ER doc caught that and off to the hand surgeon I went.
Although it was 7 years ago, I still remember the ER doc’s words (paraphrased): “You’re going to need hand surgery to reconnect the tendon–it’s snapped back in your hand like a rubber band. If you don’t, at first everything will seem fine. Then you will notice decreased mobility, and ultimately you could have permanent loss of motion and even some deformity.”
I practically peeled out of that ER room on the way to the hand surgeon!
(I’d be surprised, though, that your doc would miss a severed tendon–but heck, they’re human, too.)
Um…WTF? My reply shows here, but not in the time stamp of “Last Post,” and the number of posts to the thread wasn’t increased when I posted.
I did get the whole “The Page Cannot Be Displayed” riff when I tried posting, but avoid resubmitting to avoid multiple reply posts.
Now it seems to be in some lost dimension…so trying this post to try to correct it.
I suppose it COULD be a severed tendon, but then you wouldn’t be able to flex the finger at all. More likely to have developed scar tissue that blocks the tendon sheath, and stops the tendon from flexing the finger. Go back and ask your Doc about it.
Thats what the Doc says too. I just got it looked at and I’m getting a referral to the Hand Clinic at the local Hospital.
Thanks to all those who answered 