nail trauma and nail anatomy advice please

[florence2004]

Hey Geeks

The 4 yeaor old girl that i look after got a index finger shut is the door yesterday - owwwww

Luckily her Mum was here so we were able to get her sorted pretty quick. I looked at the finger and she had slice then skin from a bout 1/4 inch back upto the eponyicium but because of the blood couldn't see much else but I was pretty sure that the matrix was intact.

Mum took her to the doctors cause the cut was pretty deep and the doctor has advised that she has also ripped up the nail from the eponyichium end . Because of this they couldn't stich it (not sure why any ideas?) so she has it all wrapped up and doc has advised she will probably loose her nail.

Will the nail grow back if she looses it completely?

Then I got to think about the nail anatomy. Do the cells come out of the matrix and immedeately form the nail plate? Trying to ***** where exactly the matrix is so I can tell if that is where the cut has started iykwim.


Thanks
when it's unwrapped I will see if mum will let me take some piccies!

 

[Lucy-Jayne]

I'm not sure about the nail growing back in this circumstance however...

Something similar happened to my dad back in June, although by getting his finger caught in a heavy sunbed. All very sore, bruised, blood under nail, very damaged etc. Up until August, the nail was just continuing to grow black.

I live a couple of hours away from him, but my brother's girlfriend who is also a tech put a layer of acrylic over the top to 'protect' it from anymore trauma. Not sure if this should be done with a 4 year old though, and I expect her fingers are tiny too.

Anyway, some time last week, the whole damaged nail just came off! That's it, fell off - all on it's own 4 months after the initial damage.

Although, underneath a brand new nail was growing underneath! It had only grown about half way though (looked like a rather vicious nail biter!). It looked so fresh and clean!

Not sure if it may happen in this case, but just thought I'd share.

L-J
x

 

[florence2004]

Thanks Lucy

from what I understand the nail plate at the cuticle area is sticking up so cannot put anything over the top of it. There is no black nail as the blood is not trapped.

 

[florence2004]

juat had an update from mum and apparantly the nail plate has lifted from past the eponychium about 1/4 inch to about half way onto the nail bed so really not sure how close this is to the nail matrix.

Any ideas what will happen?

 

[dee]

eeew god the poor little thing that must be agony ! i can advise what might happen hun as i aint never seen anything like it before , hope shes ok though xx

 

[florence2004]

Thanks Dee
actually she's in really good spirits. I think the fact that it has gauze and a bandaid on it is keeping it nice and tight and this is helping the pain!

 

[sj1973]

i am with dee on this one never seen or heard anyone do this....but hope the little girl gets better real soon....bless her xx:hug:

 

[marioned]

I'd be very hopeful it will grow back. My daughter took off the end of her ring finger in a door jamb when she was about 6. It looked as thought it had been peeled off in a pencil sharpner and was just hanging on by a thread! EEEEWWWWWW!!!! Anyway I took her to the hospital and they stiched it back on and put on a dressing. We had to go to the Nurse to get it dressed regularly, and then to get the stiches out. It ended up with a "cap" of black scab over the whole end of her finger.

By the time it was about 2 weeks after the accident the Nurse told me to keep soaking it and if the end of the finger fell off, well it must have been meant to happen! I tell you I was nearly passing out at this! However, all went well, the scab came off and the nail grew back.

Her finger has a bit of a scar (just faint lines running around it) and the nail is slightly smaller and the skin behind grows up and stays attached to the back of the nail on the free edge. However, she can gently push this back and it all looks pretty fine. Can't tell you how relieved I am. The nurse said it healed well because she was young, so the little girl should hopefully be alright.

Marion x

 

[ValencianNails]

http://www.salongeek.com/nail-geek/60311-whats-most-damaged-nail-youve-come-across-so-far.html
My daughter did something similar to her thumb nail (see linked thread), her thumb nail started lifting from the eponychium and has now fallen off.
She damaged hers really badly and is now growing a new nail, it was cut just above the eponychium and as she's healed and the 'old' nail was coming off she's grown a new eponychium and her nail bed looks longer because of it.
She's using solar oil twice a day now in the hope that it helps the exposed 'scabbed up nail bed' heal better, it's not looking too bad at all. I'll see if I can take a couple of pics of it and upload them for you to see the difference.

My advice is for her to have solar oil applied as soon as the finger has healed over and is no longer an open wound.
Be aware that the corners of the nail might put pressure on the surrounding skin so you could end up nipping the edges off the corner of the nail to release the pressure.

hth's a bit.

 

[florence2004]

Thanks Sandi it has helped
I was just really concerned about whether she had damaged the matrix as I am not exactly sure where it is situated on a 4 year old!

Just looked at your pic Sandi she has done the same thing but gone past the eponyichum the other way , towards the knuckle iykwim and pulled the nail up from there!

 

[ValencianNails]

I've taken some pics of her thumbnail tonight so added a before and after shot.

Huge sigh of relief when we saw the new nail growing under the lifted nail :green:

I'm expecting it to be permanently ridged (as you can see in the pic), but who knows, it might grow out and be normal?!?