Finger trapped in car door advice needed?

[bizzylizzy]

Hello everyone, two days ago my husband slammed the car door on his thumb. It obviously hurt like hell and the base of the nail turned black as you'd expect. He refused to go to the docs, but although he's been submerging it in saline solution and dilute tcp it now seems to be swelling at the top of the thumb (base of nail) it looks quite red as well. Is this just part of the trauma or could it be an infection? The skin wasn't broken when he hurt his thumb, so there's no apparent way for bacteria to have infected the thumb. The thought of going to casualty on a Saturday evening doesn't fill me with joy. I just wondered if anyone had had a similar accident and could reassure me that the swelling will go down and thumb will get better in a day or two. Thank you.

[welshlibranr]

Maybe the nail is damaged, and pressure could be building up due to bleeding under the nail, very painful! He needs to go to A&E if the pain continues, they will release the pressure by drilling a small hole in the nail to release the bleed, the nail will then die and fall off, a new nail will then grow, tell him not to suffer the pain and just go and get it sorted!........not painful!.................

[Vagrant]

You can't solve this problem on Answerbank.
A Doctor needs to look at his thumb.
Go to A&E.

[boxtops]

Any bruiding after a trauma like this will be painful, and the damaged tissue is pressured by the nail, it can't swell under the nail. I'd recommend a trip to the hospital - or a walk in centre if you have one near you - just to be sure.

[boxtops]

^bruising, not bruiding!

[237SJ]

I bashed my thumb last year at work. It went black and swelled up. I would say as long as the skin isn`t broken where infection could get in, it should be OK. It will just take a little time to calm down. He could try Ibruprophen or asprin which is anti-inflamatory.

[carlton23]

I did exactly that myself just a few months ago and the thumb nail has only just grown out, I had it drilled to release the pressure and it was quite painless. It now looks normal but for a dent in the middle where it got caught.

[karenmac60]

If he doesn't want to see a doc, sterilise a needle and pierce the nail, it'll relieve the pressure - just be sure the needle is well sterilised or it will get infected.

[tamborine]

Pkt of frozen peas should alleviate pain.

[Sqad]

Bit haye now, but you should have used the frozen peas immediately after he had trapped his thumb.

I agree entirely with the advice of 237SJ.

[Hopkirk]

Six months for a new nail to replace the old one. I know this from painful experience.