Got A Cut On Finger. Noticed Swelling And Tightness. How Long Does It Takes To Heal?

Posted on Thu, 29 Nov 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 Answered on

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi, I am 18 and I cut my finger about a week ago, specifically on my nuckle (I forgot how to spell that sorry) and it was a good slice. Small, but XXXXXXX maybe 3mm across. I cut it on a tin can, it had chicken in it. It was fine but then it kept hurting. below my nuckle and now, about5 days later, my entire finger is fat, tight & swollen. Ouch! ??
There is no icky liquid or puss coming out of it. It isnt red or hot to the touch. It hurts to bend. I work in a fast food place so I mess with chemicals (bleach, degreaser, spic and span, ect.), also bread, grease, sauces, everything. I clean it out at least 2 times a day with peroxide, and I am keeping up with putting a new bandaid on it as much as I can. I keep it covered at work. Idk what is going on.

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (11 minutes later)

Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Such wounds even if do look small can heal for a long time. As you do work with food, you need to know that raw flesh has a lot of many bacterias (cooked flesh has also some bacterias). This bacterias for sure has gotten into this wound. Such wound should get almost healed in a 5 days. If it does not, you should get medical help with it.
It looks like you gone need antibiotics to get it healed. Moreover, there is always a risk of tetanus infection. So you should probable get vaccination for that.
So in conclusion, it is advisable for you to go to the doctor and have antibiotics prescribed (Clindamicine is the best one for such wounds).

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar