Fingertip Injuries
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Types of Fingertip Injuries
Fingertip injuries are common in pediatrics. The most common types are:
- Nail avulsion: the nail is ripped out, partially or completely.
- Fingertip laceration: a cut that may or may not involve the nail.
- Fingertip avulsion: a small piece of soft tissue is cut off.
- Fingertip amputation: a large part or all of the fingertip is cut off. May include bone or fingernail.
- Fingertip fracture: broken bone from an injury.
- Crush injury: causes soft tissue damage and possible broken bones.
- Burn: can be chemical, thermal, or friction.
- Compression injury: damage resulting from the finger being pressed upon too tightly and disrupting blood supply. Ex: tight bandage, tight cast, or other external source.
While these injuries can seem intimidating to parents, taking care of a fingertip injury is actually quite simple. Most fingertip injuries in children, even avulsions and partial amputations, will heal well with good wound care and time. Your Plastic Surgery provider will help you and your child navigate the recovery for the optimal outcome.
How to Care for Fingertip Injuries
- Finger splints are generally not advised in children as they can cause more problems than protection. If your child was seen in an urgent care or ER and placed in a finger splint, we recommend that it be removed.
- Regardless of the type of injury, remove the bandage and wash the fingertip daily with soap and water. If you find that the bandage is stuck onto the wound, soak the fingertip in warm water to loosen it up.
- After washing the wound, smear antibiotic ointment on a Xeroform petroleum gauze and apply it to the tip of the finger. Finally wrap the fingertip with gauze wrap taking care not to apply it too tightly. If the injury is small, a simple Band-aid will do.
- If more than one finger is affected, wrap each finger individually.
Fingertip Injury Supplies
- Bacitracin (antibiotic ointment)
- Xeroform (petroleum gauze)
- Nonstick gauze pad
- Rolled gauze/Kling wrap
Fingernail Injuries
Fingernail damage can range from a small split in the nail to complete loss of the nail.
In general, nail growth takes about 3 months. After an injury, it takes 3 cycles of nail growth to know what the final appearance of the nail will be. Therefore, from the time of injury to the time of the final appearance of the nail is about 9 months.
Complications from nail damage and regrowth can occur. These include but are not limited to:
- Hook nail (the nail grows over the tip of the finger and down rather than growing straight)
- Fingernail ridging (rough or streaky nail growth)
- Floating fingernail (nail grows back but is not attached to the underlying nail bed)
- Fingernail discoloration
- Failure of the nail to grow back.
Your child will be evaluated at 9 months after the nail injury to assess for any nail regrowth issues. At that time, your Plastic Surgery provider will be able to provide recommendations to address your child’s specific concern.
