last weekend i put my fist through something and cut my fingers up. today i was at work and i noticed that the knuckle on my index finger looked puffy, so i pushed on it. out came this squirt of green puss that shot across my desk and landed on a stack of photos, which was pretty sick. of course now it's sore. i've washed it several times and put some bactine on it. any other suggestions from someone who actually knows about medical shit?

Take a seat, sir...
Yikes, is that last picture you?
Now, you don't want to end up with scepticaemia do you? It kills, my great-grandmother included.
You MUST take that to a doctor as you will no doubt need a nice nurse to dig it out and clean it properly, and then some anti-biotics.
Depending on what you hurt yourself with, you might also need a tetanus booster.

I have lost count of the people who have let things like that fester for so long that they, in the end, needed to have a general so that it could be opened up properly.
The longer you leave it, the worse it could get.

Sorry, that last bit was a bit obvious and patronising, but still, get it seen to!!!

On the upside, most people who get their fingers opened up get a few days off work, depending on how deep the infection is.

Oo!

I just remembered this one guy, he got a splinter in his finger-tip that he couldn't get out, and he thought it would work it's own way out, but instead it went in so deep they got it out just distal to his wrist. His hand was useless for a while and he got 6 weeks off work! Yay!

nah, that was just for soul erosion. my finger bugs, but it isn't falling off.


don't worry, it went through hard plastic, not a rabid dog.


i can't take time off of work right now, i'm too swamped with shit. that's why i need to know what i can do at home. i need over the counter type of remedies. if i need to get some tweezers and rip the skin open to clean it with q-tips and shit, i'll do it. i just need to know what to clean it with.

In all good conscience I cannot let you open it yourself, it would be hugely unethical. If the last pic is not you, just the first ones, a bout of anit-biotics and a good cleaning might well be enough, and with no opening, no time off work.

DO NOT OPEN IT YOUSELF!

It is almost impossible to maintain a sterile environment at home. You will actually make it worse.

So, if you're going to be stubborn, what I will say is to get something like TCP, which I don't know if you have in the states, so I'll say a liquid, skin disinfectant the sort of thing used for piercings. Mix it with reasonably warm water as per instructions on the bottle and soak your hand in it. Squeeze as much pus as you can out at regular intervals, and once it appears to have stopped, soak you hand in warm, quite salty water. Creams don't go deep enough, and don't wrap your hand up as that will encourage breeding unless done with sterile dressing, and then they would need changing every day.

I'd give it a day or so of a good anti-septic, and maybe a day or two of regular salt baths. Leave your hand in for twenty minutes or so at a time, and don't touch anything gross.

If in a few days it still hurts to touch and you still get pus, stop being all brave and get some real help.

you'll live.....that green puss is likely nuttin'....but goin' to a doctor is never a bad idea, but he'll porlly just tell ya itz healin' itself.....2 yrs ago or so i did a major wipe out on a long board and got some serious road rash on my knees and elbows, my right knee had a gash that was like 4 centimeters deep and 2 inches wide and about 3 inches long, so i dumped some rubbin' alcohol on it and covered it with band-aids, and it kinda got all green pussy like too, so i went to the doctor, and he just said it was healin' itself......but, like i said, goin' to a doctor is never a bad idea....you could always just call 'em and ask about it

Where have you been all my life?

It's hard to tell exactly what I'm looking at, but I see a hole on the underside of your little finger, and one on your knuckle..were you a silly boy, or just unfortunate?

You can click on most images posted on the forum for a larger view you know. It's probably a little of both but I'm just going to claim the latter. Although I should probably consider myself fortunate that none of my fingers have gotten gangrene and fallen off.
I work in carpentry and woodworkin' hyuk!

I did zoom in, but still, I didn't see anything huge...not that I'm doubting your pain.

The grossest woodworking related thing I saw was this little lad, ten years old, went to his dad's sawmill and somehow got the cuff of his coat caught, and his hand was sliced clean off.
His dad brought him in within seconds as he was local and not only was the hand put back on nicely, he regained virtually all movement, and a kick ass scar!

Oh, I forgot to mention that to Arsi-
smell your finger, if it starts to stink, or if the pus is a little pungent, that's not good, it won't be gangrene this soon, but on the way..

Where have you gotten your medical training? Someone else asked and I'm curious too.

Did someone else ask?
I missed that...

Oh well, I did my nurse training when I left school.
I then worked for various agencies doing all kinds of things, lots of hospital work etc.
Although, now I have occasional compassion fatigue, and I get upset at all the suffering, and so then did my embalmer training, and will be qualified in a few months. I won't let my PIN number run out for a while though, just in case I need to go back to it, and it's always handy to career have, even if you hate it.
It's though embalming that I've leaned far more about anatomy than in nursing, as now I get to do a lot more of the practical rooting around.

That's so cool.
Follow your dreams Nivvie.

I'd gve you another gold star but you've cleaned me out.

How could you run out of gold stars? What kind of a doctor are you, you quack?