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HELP, just sliced good chunk of thumb off


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Seriously, this hurts. :huh: Now what? Can I do anything to make it heal faster? I guess I'll just bandage it up, but how do I keep the new skin from sticking? It's been awhile since I inflicted this kind of damage.

Ouch + typing with one hand blows.

BTW I was chopping up cooked shrimp for a version of California roll. I can't find my piece of thumb flesh though.

-G

Grace Piper, host of Fearless Cooking

www.fearlesscooking.tv

My eGullet Blog: What I ate for one week Nov. 2010

Subscribe to my 5 minute video podcast through iTunes, just search for Fearless Cooking

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Dang that's gotta hurt.

That Neosporin stuff seems to help cuts heal faster.

Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea!

- Sydney Smith, English clergyman & essayist, 1771-1845

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Last time I did that I just mixed the thumb slice into the salmon mousse.

I am on the fence about saving the minced shrimp. I stuck it in the fridge for now. I wonder what thumb tastes like. :biggrin:

I'll pick up some Neosporin tomorrow.

Thanks,

G

Grace Piper, host of Fearless Cooking

www.fearlesscooking.tv

My eGullet Blog: What I ate for one week Nov. 2010

Subscribe to my 5 minute video podcast through iTunes, just search for Fearless Cooking

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Last time I did that I just mixed the thumb slice into the salmon mousse.

I am on the fence about saving the minced shrimp. I stuck it in the fridge for now. I wonder what thumb tastes like. :biggrin:

I'll pick up some Neosporin tomorrow.

Thanks,

G

Several years ago I managed to add a piece of my fingernail to the Swiss cheese I was grating for fondue. I looked and looked but never could find it. To this day I have no idea who was the "lucky" finder. All I know is that it wasn't me or my husband! I often add a tiny hunk of skin when using the microplane. I suppose that makes me a cannibal.

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Not two weeks ago, I sliced into one of my fingers while washing dishes. A small section of my finger (about 0.5cm diameter, maybe 2 or 3mm deep) was hanging by a bit of skin. I was lucky enough to still have that bit of flesh, because I stuck it back on (my homemade skin graft).

While it was healing, I didn't use any Neosporin at all, or any other kind of topical antibiotic. I washed it with some Cetaphil and when it dried I covered it with a bandaid. I kept it covered most of the time, but I took off the bandaids after doing any kind of wet activity (to let the skin dry). I had some new skin growth and I think letting my finger go naked sometimes helped prevent any sticking.

It hurt like hell for about a week, and still feels a bit weird (looks almost like a wart), but I'm just happy I don't have a funky looking gouge in my finger!

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I actually cut the end of my thumb off while slicing a ribeye on the bias - went right over the last quarter-inch of the digit; I was staring at the end of the capillaries, blood gushing. The doctor had to sew the flesh back on and then he caurterized it all. It hurt for two months.

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ahhhhh, my biggest phobia...I'm cringing and feeling nauseated as I read these...I always sweat when cutting with a knife from the anxiety. Unfortunately, I also love cutting with a knife (julienne, anyone?).

"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" - Oscar Wilde

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Still healing the one I inflicted on my middle left. Trying to slit the wrap on an English cucumber.:unsure:

Debated about going to the ER and getting a stitch but wrapped it tight and it's almost completely healed. Not the worst by far but bad enough.

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but how do I keep the new skin from sticking?

-G

A nice thick layer of polysporin (neosporin I think in the US), a layer of sofratulle or other impregnanted non stick guaze like that, a layer of telfa (non stick), then some regular guaze. Change the dressing daily, if sticking soak off with mild salt solution.

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I second the liquid bandaid(as long as it contains the gallons of blood you are probably letting. Add to that painkillers and take out . Don't forget, if you use a turnequet, loosen it every 15 seconds.

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but how do I keep the new skin from sticking?

-G

A nice thick layer of polysporin (neosporin I think in the US), a layer of sofratulle or other impregnanted non stick guaze like that, a layer of telfa (non stick), then some regular guaze. Change the dressing daily, if sticking soak off with mild salt solution.

what she said. nonstick gauze. soak off if it sticks. change every day, but try to be sure not to disturb the wound once you've cleaned it out.

alternately, if you can get this stuff called tegaderm (check your pharmacy), basically gauze up your wound some, tape it down good, and cover it with tegaderm, and leave it for a couple of days. the goal is to have your skin regrow from the underneath, rather than scabbing/scarring over from the top and making a mark.

it's gonna hurt for a while. i've done this a couple of times now, and ... yeah, it's gonna hurt. sorry FM.

p.s. go ahead and eat the shrimp.

Edited by mrbigjas (log)
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Yup, thumb still bleeding quite freely. I guess I’ll have to bag it for sleeping, so I don’t ruin my bedding.

Prasantrin: This is exactly why I was picking through the shrimp looking for my flesh. I thought I’d find it, give it a quick rinse and stick it back on. Lucky you, that yours was still attached. Years ago I sliced myself, but like you I was able to slap the bit of skin back on and it healed nicely.

soak off with mild salt solution

Ahhhhhhh! At this moment that sounds really, really painful. Open wound….pour in salt…..pass out in pain, I’m sure days from now I will take your advice though.

Thanks everyone and keep your own knife horror stories coming. I love reading them. I’m not alone in this misery.

PS I ate the shrimp. Hmmm, soylent green is people and so was my badly rolled California type roll with shrimp+me. :rolleyes:

-G

Edited by FoodMuse (log)

Grace Piper, host of Fearless Cooking

www.fearlesscooking.tv

My eGullet Blog: What I ate for one week Nov. 2010

Subscribe to my 5 minute video podcast through iTunes, just search for Fearless Cooking

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In a pinch, Super Glue will close up a wound. I once fileted my thumb at work, and the chef ended up pouring super glue on it. Closed the wound, and when I got home I was able to clean it up and bandage it properly.

-Sounds awfully rich!

-It is! That's why I serve it with ice cream to cut the sweetness!

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I will concur that Super Glue works. It is probably highly toxic, so I don't think I would recommend it for every cut.

I one took a HUGE chunk out of the knuckle of my thumb grating cheese. I still have a little scar.

Hope you heal quickly,

Laurie

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I will concur that Super Glue works.  It is probably highly toxic, so I don't think I would recommend it for every cut.

I one took a HUGE chunk out of the knuckle of my thumb grating cheese.  I still have a little scar. 

Hope you heal quickly,

Laurie

Actually we use methyl acrylate glue in place of stitches quite often. It was originally invented for the purpose of skin closure, household use came second. I carry around a vial that has 4 little tubes of Crazy Glue, great for little cuts, like when my hair dresser nips his finger.

Get the wound to stop bleeding with some direct pressure, make sure the sides of the wound are together, apply just a drop or two. Stings a bit. We are talking a little wound here, big ones and gushers will likely need suturing.

It won't work were you have taken a gouge out of your skin or cut off the tip of your finger if there isn't a piece of skin to put back in place. It won't stick to a wet wound.

Then there was the kid who crazy glued his eyelids together. Docs had to remove his eyelid and replace it with some of his foreskin. He's OK though, just a bit cockeyed.

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If you've got a hanging flap, you probably don't want to try to close it up with super glue or the like -- it needs to heal from the inside out. I've used butterfly bandages and fingercots (both available at any old drug store) on bad finger cuts. Keep an eye on any flaps and cut them off as you can. Good luck!

Bridget Avila

My Blog

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If you've got a hanging flap, you probably don't want to try to close it up with super glue or the like -- it needs to heal from the inside out.  I've used butterfly bandages and fingercots (both available at any old drug store) on bad finger cuts.  Keep an eye on any flaps and cut them off as you can.  Good luck!

It looks pretty freaky as it's healing, doesn't it? My stuck-on flap was blue for about a week and it looked like there was no blood circulation going through it. Very frankenstein-like, I thought. I was worried that it was going to become gangrenous (I have an over-active imagination, I've been told), but it eventually became "normal'. It would still bleed around the edges once every so often for the first week, and I had to trim the dead skin around the edges, but it seems to have healed very well. I'm very glad I decided to stick my flap back on instead of ripping it off (it was just hanging by a little bit of skin).

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Thanks everyone,

I'm really surprised at how by the next day I already had a nice dry, tremendously ugly scab over it. I sliced a good bit of the pad of my thumb off so I didn't have a "hanging chad" to put back on. I can almost count the rings of skin I took off. :cool:

Crazy Glue

I've got to remember that!

Thanks for the link, those were some fun stories.

-G

Grace Piper, host of Fearless Cooking

www.fearlesscooking.tv

My eGullet Blog: What I ate for one week Nov. 2010

Subscribe to my 5 minute video podcast through iTunes, just search for Fearless Cooking

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Then there was the kid who crazy glued his eyelids together.  Docs had to remove his eyelid and replace it with some of his foreskin.  He's OK though, just a bit cockeyed.

Haha.. If ever there were a more perfect time to throw that one out.. The timing of a true proffessional she has..

Edited by Daniel (log)
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i actually did that in front of a cooking class i was teaching. i was finishing a sauce and realized i didn't have enough butter. i reached into the freezer for more, then tried to slice it, forgetting that frozen butter doesn't slice but shatters. bam. there went the tip of my thumb. i wrapped my thumb in a kitchen towel, used direct pressure from two other fingers, and finished the class. there's still a little dent there, but it does grow back.

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