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Pain In Middle Finger For 15 Days. Normal X Ray, Taking Antibiotics And Painkillers. Options Other Than Surgery?
Hi,
My middle finger in the left hand has been paining for almost fifteen days now. Its the top joint in the finger. Xray has ruled out any bone related problem. The doctor thinks its a nail bed infection though nothing is visible from the outside. I am on antibiotics and painkillers. He says the logical next step is to open it up to see what the issue is.
Is the diagnosis right? Is surgery the only option?
My middle finger in the left hand has been paining for almost fifteen days now. Its the top joint in the finger. Xray has ruled out any bone related problem. The doctor thinks its a nail bed infection though nothing is visible from the outside. I am on antibiotics and painkillers. He says the logical next step is to open it up to see what the issue is.
Is the diagnosis right? Is surgery the only option?
Fri, 28 Jun 2013
Hi, thanks for writing to HCM.
You have mentioned whether there was any injury that led to pain in the finger. Assuming that you had no history of injury, spontaneous pain in the finger could be due to soft tissue infection or inflammation. In these cases, you will have fever with local rise of temparature over the finger (it feels hot) along with redness and swelling. If all these findings are not present in you, then i think there is no rationale in planning for surgery.
If it is a nail bed infection, it will definetely resolves with appropriate antibiotics. If you are still concerned about the problem, an MRI scan will diagnose all the issues inside. Hope this helps
You have mentioned whether there was any injury that led to pain in the finger. Assuming that you had no history of injury, spontaneous pain in the finger could be due to soft tissue infection or inflammation. In these cases, you will have fever with local rise of temparature over the finger (it feels hot) along with redness and swelling. If all these findings are not present in you, then i think there is no rationale in planning for surgery.
If it is a nail bed infection, it will definetely resolves with appropriate antibiotics. If you are still concerned about the problem, an MRI scan will diagnose all the issues inside. Hope this helps
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