admin June 22nd, 2011
Hi!
So I was in the kitchen one day and got a little excited with my new chef’s knife.
There I was chopping coriander, and my mind wondered… chop 
The knife went through my finger diagonally. It mustn’t gone very deep as I felt no pain but there was profuse bleeding.
It also went through my nail and made a wide "U" at the top of the nail; but was still attached. It went into the skin of my thumb too.
After washing and picking out coriander (actually there was one bit left as I was scared to move the bit of nail too much! :/), I applied pressure, raised my hand and ran to the pharmacy down the road.
The pharmacist said it didn’t look too bad and as it was the weekend, I couldn’t visit the local surgery.
I applied antiseptic ointment (Savlon) and applied a plaster, and wrapped my finger with a waterproof white tape ‘dressing’ so I could continue cooking.
Now having set the scene my actual question(s) is/are as follows:
[*] I’ve been changing the dressing every 24 hours and the bleeding stopped after the first dressing. There is no pain but on the first day there was a dark haematoma-like bruising. So I washed the area again carefully and reapplied the ointment, plaster and bandage. These things are airtight and waterproof so should I be letting the wound to "breathe" or is this an old wives tale?
[*] Is it normal for the skin that has been covered for 24 hours (on several occasions) to develop a lighter/wrinkled hue to the surrounded skin? In some areas (for example I assume where the ointment has collected under the bandage) the area is extremely white and in contrast with the other areas around it. Is this just because of saturation or is it a sign of infection?
I am on a very very busy schedule and I would be amazingly grateful if I could get feedback on my situation. I look forward to your replies.
Thanks!
Thank you for the replies Jessica S and Butterfly.
I panicked at Jessica’s reply but I’m a little more relaxed now with Butterfly’s other end of the spectrum reply… but to be safe I may just pop down to the surgery and they’ll send me to the ER if necessary.
Thankfully its my left (non-dominant) hand and therefore I can try my best to keep it out of harms way during the day. The bandage/dressing I applied was originally in fear of squashing/deforming the wound as I slept!
I’ll continue to monitor this thread and thanks again for the replies!
Oh I forgot to mention that the wound itself has cleared up nicely, the bruising has disappeared, there is a little flappy skin and the cut part of the nail has reseated itself like a jigsaw and holds in place without the bandage. Pressing around the nail and on the actual flap of skin does not sting or hurt. There is no secretion and the only cause for concern was the slightly too-long-in-the-warm-bath look of some bits of skin in the covered top section of the thumb (and not on the actual wound/around the wound itself).
I hope the above paragraphs weren’t too incoherent!
