Suggest Treatment For Painful And Swollen Hand Post Injury

Posted on Mon, 29 Sep 2014

Question: hi i had an injury to my right hand october 25 2013, glass punctured the top and left shards of glass in there, anyway it infected and 3 days in hospital and 2 surgerys it seemed better but i felt the difference but nerves and tissue were cut , about two months ago on the same hand i woke up one morning and on my knuckle on index finger has been painful and swollen and still is and has a small bump like and wont stop hurting and , now the doctors said due to infection it will not be the same for a while , i was being in a rush to get back to work. i wanted to know if it is anyway possible it could be related somehow, if it never fully healed

Answered by Dr. Shoaib Khan (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Yes sir, I do think it is related; heal- skeptical

Detailed Answer:
Hello sir and welcome.

Thank you for writing to us.

I have gone through your query with diligence and would like you to know that I am here to help. in most cases with tendon damage, healing naturally is not always a good option which is why we doctors (traumatologists/orthopedicians) choose to go ahead with surgical repair. But in my experience, surgery is also very limited. I say this because in majority of the cases, surgical repair helps greatly in achieving good healing with the tendons. But in a minority of cases (especially in those cases with severe damage and infection), the tendon will never really heal completely.

I had a professional dancer who was a patient and severely injured the tendons of her foot, unfortunately due to the injury her foot also suffered an infection, and sadly despite 3 surgeries by very experienced doctors she can never get back to professional dancing again. Although these are rare cases, it does happen.

Sadly sir, in your case as infection was present I am guessing there was quite a bit of damage to your tendons not just by the injury and glass particles but also by the infection. Once infected, debridement (surgically removing the damaged part) results in further loss in tissue damage.

In response to your query, I do think it is possible that your current presentation is related to the previous event and also unfortunately doubt whether complete healing will ever take place sir.

I hope you find my response helpful and informative. Please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications, I would be more than happy to help.

Best wishes.

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar