Finger Nail Bed Injuries After A Motorcycle Accident
I was supplied these photos by someone who found my blog and then corresponded with me regarding their injury. He had injured his fingers in a motorcycle accident six weeks previous to our “meeting.” He understood that I could not be his treating physician and keep his questions respectful of that. I am grateful to him for the use of his photos as they show how healing occurs.
This photo to the right is the one taken at 6 weeks post injury. Note the split of the nail growing back. There does not appear to be any connection centrally between the two nails growing back. If you look back to the photo of the 1st day, (and I know it is difficult to see due to the size) there is a deeper injury in the central area. It would have been to his benefit to have had this central area sutured at the time of the injury.
At this point in time, he has two choices:
1. Allow the finger to completely heal and see if his and my prediction of split nail is a permanent condition.
2. Seek out a hand surgeon to excise the central scar and do a primary repair of the nail bed. This would mean removal of the nail(s) that has grown back so the repair could be done properly. The timing of this repair is not crucial. It can be done either now or at a later date.
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
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