Dr ML. Cuticle/finger infection.

[cjcouple]

My son has paronychia (according to google).

He basically ripped/bit at his cuticle on his index finger and now its infected. At what point do I take him to his pediatrician?

Its swollen and red and has a small green tinge along the cuticle.

Anyone deal with this? I saw online they recommend some antifungal creams, so I am going to go to the pharmacy as soon as they open. And it said to soak it in warm water 20 mins 3-4x a day. I'm just worried about the green color.

Anyone have something similar happen before? I will call the pedi as well. they open in 5 mins so I will call in and ask.

[wanderingback]

Never once have I given antibiotics or fungal cream for paronychia.
If it’s truly that immediate relief comes when you drain it. Draining doesn’t even hurt because you only have to make a super tiny puncture for it to drain. I tell people they can go home and try to do soaks and come back if it doesn’t work or just get it drained and most people get it drained. I had one person try soaks and came back 2 days later to get it drained. I’ve never managed a small kid with it, only teens, but I’d do the same thing for a small kid if that’s the diagnosis.

ETA: I realize you didn’t say how old your son is haha. I swear I read I young age. Clearly my mind is playing tricks on me.

[cjcouple]

wanderingback, thanks - he is 14. Have you ever seen it slightly green on edges of cuticle?

[eponinepontmercy]

My daughter had this on her big toe in July. We went to urgent care where the doctor drained it (poked a small hole and squeezed the grossness out), which was very painful but she said it felt better after. We soaked it with epsom salts twice a day for about a week and put neosporin on it.

[cjcouple]

wanderingback, eponinepontmercy, thank you both. I will just keep soaking it and see f it helps. if it gets worse i will bring him to have it drained.

[eponinepontmercy]

cjcouple, I should have said that my daughter is 9 and a drama queen. I don't doubt that it hurt, but her pain scale may be very different from that of a 14 year old boy.

[cjcouple]

eponinepontmercy, lol

[statgirl]

I had that as a 17 year old girl. It hurt when I had to write an essay test and then I realized my finger was green. I soaked it (making sure I hadn’t highlighted my finger or something) and when it was still green, popped it. The relief was immediate and very satisfying. No pain during/after my ad-hoc treatment.

[Leeham Rimes]

I ripped a hangnail off once and gave my thumb a pretty good infection that made the urgent care wince. Apparently thumbs aren’t supposed to be red/purple and throbbing. they gave me antibiotics after self care didn’t do anything to help or alleviate the pain. The antibiotics did the trick and my thumb felt better after two days.

[lovelyshoes]

Soak it with warm water, really warm and baking soda or epsom salt and try to squeeze it out. It’ll hurt until it comes out, but feels better after instantly. Hope it works fast.

[wanderingback]

Sept 24, 2020 7:08:38 GMT -5 cjcouple said:

wanderingback , thanks - he is 14. Have you ever seen it slightly green on edges of cuticle?

Yes. Green/yellow. That's the pus in the abscess.
If it's an abscess, immediate relief typically comes from drainage. The warm soaks might help get the drainage started, but doesn't always. 

[TR]

I can almost FEEL the relief of draining that thing lol. DO IT, cjcouple!

[cjcouple]

Sept 24, 2020 9:09:48 GMT -5 TR said:

I can almost FEEL the relief of draining that thing lol. DO IT, cjcouple !

haha - I actually looked up how to drain it.  It looks fairly straight forward.  I also have some sterilized needles from when I had GD.  I will see what he thinks after his Civic zooms ends.  If we chicken out, we will just go to DR to have it done.  Its a good 30 mins away and he has football later so I hate for him to miss that. I will let you all know.

[liverandonions]

I get cuticle infections a lot because i'm a picker - Definitely drain it if he'll let you and keep it clean like you have been. I was given an Rx for future issues because one time my infection spread down towards the first knuckle and that was no bueno.

Good luck!

[SusanBAnthony]

This may not be the right way but I would poke it with a sewing pin or needle (soaked in alcohol), the soak it and apply antibiotic ointment for a few days. That has always worked for us.

[mellym]

I was diagnosed with a paronychia this past year. I had to go to Urgent Care because primary doctor offices don't have the tools to drain them here. Doctor gave me antibiotic first and I soaked my finger 3x day in epsom salts. It didn't get better so they gave me a second antibiotic - one that works against staph infections. I guess most of them are that type!? That one worked and I didn't need it drained. The next step was removing my fingernail.

[tripleshot]

I get finger infections all the time for a different reason. But one piece of advice that I received from a hand surgeon is to soak it in as hot of water as you can stand along with some Dreft baby laundry detergent. Apparently it’s something that’s been around for a while and they used to treat war wounds. So I do that multiple times a day when I have an infection and it does help. When it’s not soaking, I have a bandaid with abx ointment. In my cases, I also need oral antibiotics and sometimes IV antibiotics to clear it.

[TR]

Sept 24, 2020 11:06:45 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Sept 24, 2020 10:12:03 GMT -5 mellym said:

I was diagnosed with a paronychia this past year. I had to go to Urgent Care because primary doctor offices don't have the tools to drain them here. Doctor gave me antibiotic first and I soaked my finger 3x day in epsom salts. It didn't get better so they gave me a second antibiotic - one that works against staph infections. I guess most of them are that type!? That one worked and I didn't need it drained. The next step was removing my fingernail.

They didn’t have the tools??? You come over here next time, I have all the ‘tools’ we need. Lol

Right. Safety pin? Needle? This is why I'll probably lose a finger one day lol

[gummybear]

Sept 24, 2020 11:08:53 GMT -5 TR said:

Sept 24, 2020 11:06:45 GMT -5 mofongo said:

They didn’t have the tools??? You come over here next time, I have all the ‘tools’ we need. Lol

Right. Safety pin? Needle? This is why I'll probably lose a finger one day lol

 This is what my college roommate and I fondly referred to as "Clearing it up yourself"
I agree with the other posters. Soak in hot water and epsom salt, puncture with a disinfected safety pin or needle, squeeze, slather in neosporin and slap a band aid on it. 

[cjcouple]

ok he poked it himself. Lots of puss came out but its still quite swollen. It looks less red though and the green is pretty much gone. He is soaking it now. Hoping that the epson salt water soak will help it along.

soni will give it a few days and hopefully it gets better with a visit to a dr.

[silvercrayon]

Treat it now. My daughter got a staph infection around her nail. It was nasty.

[MixedBerryJam]

I just pm’d you ...

[fivechickens]

I get this every once in awhile. I just suffer through. I will pull on the side of my finger and sometimes puss comes out. It gives it a little relief.

I also put peroxide on it.

[freshsqueezed]

I get this constantly because I bite so bad.

Now that the fear of god over getting staph from it as I’ve learned from this post, perhaps I can be motivated to stop biting so badly.

[lovelyshoes]

Keep soaking it and when dry put Curad Silver Solution and cover with a band aid. It’ll get better every day.

[cjcouple]

It looks so much better today! Thank you so much for your help yesterday. It was so nasty and a bit concerning yesterday. The color really freaked me out. Nails are not supposed to be green. lol