When should I seek medical attention after a finger injury?

One should always seek medical attention as soon as possible. You should refrain from putting a lot of pressure on the thumb while you seek medical help.

It is really important as this will help to prevent cases of missed fractures and dislocations. Neglecting pain, symptoms and injuries can result in future serious problems such as:

• finger stiffness,
• loss of sensation and
• loss of function.

Be sure to inform the doctor:

• how exactly you injured it,
• when did you start to experience these symptoms,
• the frequency of the pain and
• till where does the pain radiate to.

This will help the doctor to give you the appropriate treatment to ease the other pain as well as treat the thumb.

It sounds like you injured your thumb quite abit.

If it’s persistently pain and swollen, and numb/ tingling, it could indicate some damage to the nerves supplying the thumb.

I think you should seek an opinion from a doctor soon, to allow a proper and thorough examination of your thumb.

Some radiological investigations may also be needed, to exclude a fracture.

Kind regards

Dr Sean Ng

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your thumb - sounds painful! As Dr Sean mentions, if you have persistent symptoms it is probably worth seeking an assessment and an X-ray as the minimum investigation. Sometimes, in the clinic, we also perform an ultrasound examination to look for ligament and tendon injuries. Depending on the findings, treatments can vary from simple splinting to rehab, injections or even surgical treatment.

If this has affected your dominant hand or is causing a significant functional issue, I would suggest a more urgent assessment. Otherwise you can try self medicating with PRICE and simple analgesia in the first instance to see if symptoms improve.

Hope this helps.

Bw

Dr Dinesh