Smashed Middle Finger on Car Door!?

Question

About 3 hours ago, I smashed my middle right hand finger on my car door. Immediately rather than bleed, the bottom of my nail is bluish black. The tip of my finger feels really numb and its throbbing.. I don't think it's broken because I can move it. Bending it and Grasping stuff though is painful. I looked already and found out that the color is probably blood and I read about how to relieve the blood. My question is for advice--from personal experience. What I should do? My finger is my dominant hand. I've tried ice, but i almost have to force that because that just makes it feel worse

Answer 1

Wrap a bag of ice in a kitchen towel and try that for 15 minutes at a time (15 on,45 off) . Try to keep it above the level of your heart while icing. And just because you can bend or move something doesn't mean that it's not broken. Watch for swelling. You may want to take an anti-inflammitory analgesic such as ibuprofen, unless you have an allergy to the drug or other drugs or conditions that may interfere with it or cause reactions. If ice and drugs don't help after a few hours, you may want to consult a health professional.

Answer 2

Did it bleed? Does it feel like the bone in your finger is broken? Were the throbbing pain to be too painful for you to tolerate, I suggest going to the emergency room of a hospital to have the wound looked at. Were you to think that you want to let it heal on its own, you better be sure that the bone does not have a crack in it, as it will take longer to heal than if it didn't. If you want to take any medication for the pain, you may want to try extra strength Tylenol, as it works pretty good for pain. I suggest you make a splint out of something flat like a tongue depressor and cut it to the length of your finger and tie it with tape so that you don't move the finger. This will help keep you from hitting the finger on something else and possibly give you more damage and hurt to the finger. It will depend on where the car door hit you on the finger to know if the nail may fall off. Were the finger hit by the door to be near or on the nail, you stand a good chance of loosing the nail, but if it was hit further down from the nail, it may not fall off. In any case, you need to watch for any new redness on the finger, as that could mean that you may have developed an infection under the skin which will need to be treated by a doctor. Next time watch where you put your hand and fingers when you close a car door. I only did that once in my life, and that was the last time I did it. I learned why they put door handles on care doors the hard way, and so did you. Join the crowd, as there are a lot of us who did the same thing, so you are not alone. It pays to be more careful. Good luck to you.

Answer 3

well even if you can move it, it could still be broken or fractured. You should probably have a doctor check it out if it doesn't get better soon. If it is swelling a lot, use ice. If it has stopped swelling for a while you can use heat to ease the pain, but not if it is swelling because heat will cause blood to rush to the site making it swell worse! Also, try not to use it, if you go to the doctor they will probably give you a splint to protect it. Take Tylenol or ibuprofen or something to kill the pain a bit. But still I suggest going to the doctor just to make sure nothing is seriously wrong.

Answer 4

I did the same thing 8 years ago have a doctor look at it. If it ain't broken there's really not much you can do other than let it heal on it's own. The nail will be black for a while and will probably fall off or over time the layer that's black will slowly rise to the service and can be shaved off eventually.

Answer 5

The pain!- The Pain!!! Boy are YOU going to have a long night! Alright, icing it probably IS the best thing- also taking 2 or 3 Asprin is a good idea- too. Tomorrow AM- you go to your nearest Urgent Care facility & have a Doctor check it out. You'll almostly certainly lose the Nail- but you HAVE TO see if there was any more SERIOUS crush damage to the finger. Good night (& good luck!).

Answer 6

I've shut my finger in a car door before. It's rather hard to tell, but it could be fractured. If you cannot get an x-ray or see a doc, I guess the best thing would be to ice and keep it straight.. maybe make a makeshift splint using tape + pencil.

Answer 7

Go to a hospital silly... have the experts fix it. I had an accident like that when I was 5.

If you don't have it treated soon, there might be a posibility that your nail won't grow back normally.

Oh, and they usually pull off the nail with huge tweezers to avoid internal bleeding. Good luck! Get well soon!!!

Answer 8

Don't go to the hospital or ER tonight. Instead,

Call your clinic & speak to the ADVICE NURSE & ask for an urgent care appointment & they can probably see you tomorrow.

Do NOT poke a hole in your nail if the nail is not broken, unless:
a) the ADVICE NURSE says it's ok to do it.

OR

b) you want to invite germs & infection into your nail.

Answer 9

Go to the ER and let them take an x-ray of it; just because you can move it doesn't mean it's not broken, and if it is, and grows back improperly, it means surgery somewhere down the road to rebreak and reset it. It's a lot easier to do it now!

Answer 10

Ouch, I did this as a kid, too. I really hurt.

You probably need an x-ray and splint on the finger to make it immobile.