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I sliced my right palm area open
- Thread starter Donalyn
- Start date
mynameandlastname
New member
I work in Produce at a store and we use box cutters identical to these...
I am always very careful with them, but today I didn't have my normal one and when I was using this one the blade was stuck. I knew something was going to happen and I was pulling it slow, but then it slid out and gashed my right palm.
Blood was gushing out of it. My friend who is one the first aid level 3 (top first aid) took me to clean it up. I washed it, then held multiple gauze on it for like 10 minutes to clot the blood, which it did.
It stopped bleeding and I looked at it. It's like a "slit" cut, maybe a milimeter or 2 deep. It's hard to tell in my opinion.
So he disinfected it, put 2 strip things - don't know the medical name of the product, and 2 bandages overlapping it.
It stung for a bit, then calmed down when I got home.
What worries me is I may have cut the tendon, although I am no doctor and I don't know where your tendons are. My friend who did the first aid said I was cut in a "meaty" area which was good and I probably didn't get any damage. however i dont know about that. The only obvious tendon I know is the one connecting your thumb and index finger.
now I can straighten all my fingers and move my thumb and make it touch my index finger. i can bend them all. however i have a numb/tingle feeling in them.
so to describe again the cut/gash is on my right palm a little left of the thumb
very worried looking for answers before doctor
I am always very careful with them, but today I didn't have my normal one and when I was using this one the blade was stuck. I knew something was going to happen and I was pulling it slow, but then it slid out and gashed my right palm.
Blood was gushing out of it. My friend who is one the first aid level 3 (top first aid) took me to clean it up. I washed it, then held multiple gauze on it for like 10 minutes to clot the blood, which it did.
It stopped bleeding and I looked at it. It's like a "slit" cut, maybe a milimeter or 2 deep. It's hard to tell in my opinion.
So he disinfected it, put 2 strip things - don't know the medical name of the product, and 2 bandages overlapping it.
It stung for a bit, then calmed down when I got home.
What worries me is I may have cut the tendon, although I am no doctor and I don't know where your tendons are. My friend who did the first aid said I was cut in a "meaty" area which was good and I probably didn't get any damage. however i dont know about that. The only obvious tendon I know is the one connecting your thumb and index finger.
now I can straighten all my fingers and move my thumb and make it touch my index finger. i can bend them all. however i have a numb/tingle feeling in them.
so to describe again the cut/gash is on my right palm a little left of the thumb
very worried looking for answers before doctor
sagirl.emma
New member
thanks, about to go to bed. I took off the bandage after work and have had it left open since then so it can heal faster. It is looking pretty good, again no discolouration and the wound is closing.
However my fingers still have that tight feeling. I am getting pretty paranoid because I was linked a wiki article for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The symptoms seem identical, although it says those symptoms occur over a long period of time. But then I read "trauma" can give you CTS.
-azerothian
However my fingers still have that tight feeling. I am getting pretty paranoid because I was linked a wiki article for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The symptoms seem identical, although it says those symptoms occur over a long period of time. But then I read "trauma" can give you CTS.
-azerothian
Scarlett Mardis
New member
the type of actual 'trauma" that would have to happen to you to simply 'get' carpal tunnel from injury would have to be more like a compression type injury to the wrist area where that carpal tunnel actually is. what i am thinking is you may have somehow nicked that median nerve which is the one that innervates what sounds like the area of your damage? do you still have ANY level of numbness and or tingling anywhere in that hand? the median nerve is more of a sensory type of nerve vs motor,but it does govern some fine motor functions that simply innervate the smaller muscles too. i have median damage to my left hand due to spinal cord damage, but my damage was actually caused way up in the c spine area where it starts from and goes down to the hand? my thumb has damage as well as ALOT of fatty and muscle loss across the palm side of my hand and my thumb does not rotate right anymore. i also have ulnar nerve damage as well,but this area IS innervated by that median nerve,that much i do know.
what you are probably experienceing is some level of "perceptionary" type of feeling? these are just sensations that can occur when the sensory nerves are involved(if this doesn't actually "look' swollen but you feel that tightness anyway?). have you actually seen a doc at any time for this,just to have the area fully evaluated by someone who simply knows how every tendon and muscle should be working there? i just cannot see you actually having CT from the type of injury you had,it does sound like the median did suffer some level of hit or nick or involvement tho,and that really needs evaluation.
i seriously would get yourself to see some type of doc here soon,just to have this looked at more closely. we just have soo many little tiny fine motor muscles in our hands and fingers that are innervated by various nerves that you really do want and need to know for certain whether this is all a temporary type situation or some level of real damage to a nerve and what it innervates. do you have ANY actual loss of movements at all there in any finger,but mostly the thumb and forefinger? i would just really get this seen soon,and also documented(by a real doctor) just in case you may need something done down the road or even PT to rehab that hand back to normal. believe me,if you did actually damage that median,it can affect finger movements and loss of functions. my thumb now does less than about have of the movements now than it used too,and it does suck at times when you really need that thumb to help do something or fine motor functions that affected all my fingers to some degree(the adductors and abductor movements). you do not want that for yourself,trust me. someone just needs to fully evaluate your overall hand functions at this point.
just do some research on what that median nerve actually innervates, then compare where your symptoms are and how they compare with what is innervated or specific finger or hand movements. seeing either a good hand surgeon or even a good orthopedics doc would help you alot. or even just your primary at this point too. this "could' just be the way it could be healing too,as you did suffer trauma and there could be swelling that is not really apparent on the outside but on the inside that could be affecting this too ya know? but i would see a doc at the very least your primary for now. you just really need to know the full level of your injury soon. hopefully this will simply get better all by itself, but you do want this at least looked at and the motions run thru with the hand and fingers. good luck and please keep us posted. FB
what you are probably experienceing is some level of "perceptionary" type of feeling? these are just sensations that can occur when the sensory nerves are involved(if this doesn't actually "look' swollen but you feel that tightness anyway?). have you actually seen a doc at any time for this,just to have the area fully evaluated by someone who simply knows how every tendon and muscle should be working there? i just cannot see you actually having CT from the type of injury you had,it does sound like the median did suffer some level of hit or nick or involvement tho,and that really needs evaluation.
i seriously would get yourself to see some type of doc here soon,just to have this looked at more closely. we just have soo many little tiny fine motor muscles in our hands and fingers that are innervated by various nerves that you really do want and need to know for certain whether this is all a temporary type situation or some level of real damage to a nerve and what it innervates. do you have ANY actual loss of movements at all there in any finger,but mostly the thumb and forefinger? i would just really get this seen soon,and also documented(by a real doctor) just in case you may need something done down the road or even PT to rehab that hand back to normal. believe me,if you did actually damage that median,it can affect finger movements and loss of functions. my thumb now does less than about have of the movements now than it used too,and it does suck at times when you really need that thumb to help do something or fine motor functions that affected all my fingers to some degree(the adductors and abductor movements). you do not want that for yourself,trust me. someone just needs to fully evaluate your overall hand functions at this point.
just do some research on what that median nerve actually innervates, then compare where your symptoms are and how they compare with what is innervated or specific finger or hand movements. seeing either a good hand surgeon or even a good orthopedics doc would help you alot. or even just your primary at this point too. this "could' just be the way it could be healing too,as you did suffer trauma and there could be swelling that is not really apparent on the outside but on the inside that could be affecting this too ya know? but i would see a doc at the very least your primary for now. you just really need to know the full level of your injury soon. hopefully this will simply get better all by itself, but you do want this at least looked at and the motions run thru with the hand and fingers. good luck and please keep us posted. FB
FB,
I appreciate the posts and all the information you are giving me.
I went to a walk-in clinic doctor today to get some information. I talked to him for less than 30 seconds, literally - I don't know if that is a good thing.
I told him how I cut myself and our first aid procedure. His response was "it was a small cut" and it was "healing fast." He said I got a tetanus shot when I was 16 in school, which I am pretty sure I did - we got a ton of shots in school. I told him my fingers felt tight and he asked if I could move them, which I could. He flipped my hand over and felt a long my fingers and asked if I could feel everything which I can. So he said I should be fine.
He was an older doctor, but I don't know if he was in a rush or what. I guess I will wait it out a bit now. My fingers on that hand are still a bit tight. Also when I touch the skin just above my thumb's nail there is sort of a tingle feeling.
I appreciate the posts and all the information you are giving me.
I went to a walk-in clinic doctor today to get some information. I talked to him for less than 30 seconds, literally - I don't know if that is a good thing.
I told him how I cut myself and our first aid procedure. His response was "it was a small cut" and it was "healing fast." He said I got a tetanus shot when I was 16 in school, which I am pretty sure I did - we got a ton of shots in school. I told him my fingers felt tight and he asked if I could move them, which I could. He flipped my hand over and felt a long my fingers and asked if I could feel everything which I can. So he said I should be fine.
He was an older doctor, but I don't know if he was in a rush or what. I guess I will wait it out a bit now. My fingers on that hand are still a bit tight. Also when I touch the skin just above my thumb's nail there is sort of a tingle feeling.
iamtheraingoddess
New member
i do think you did hit that median. at least you had a 30 second eval(kinda sick) on this and it is documented. the doc actually should have run thru all the ROMS that those fingers do,but this is what you kind of get with a primary. they just don't really know too much more than the average person in some cases to really be able to tell what may be in some ways affected. like i mentioned before,there are just so many specific movements that our fingers do that i really do think it would be rather difficult for someone who does not have the overall true knowledge of the working hand to see real subtle differeccnces in movements there.
i actually had a real(idiot) ortho doc mis Dx me when i actually blew out the ligaments in my middle finger at work years ago(i fell backwards and landed right ON that middle finger and jammed it badly),this was an actual ortho surgeon ,VERY scarey. he barely touched my finger at all and simply "proclaimed' it was tendons,then had it casted(big no no there and i paid for that one with loss of movement) from the dang finger tips to about mid forearm. it should not have been casted,i needed PT. when that cast came off,that finger was still horribly swollen and black and blue as the day it had happened many weeks before. it was not til my WC person let me see a actual hand surgeon that i found out this actual ortho was that stupid. god i was soo angry(so was the hand surgeon). i am only telling you this as even someone who is supposed to know,did not with me ya know?
i would give this a bit more time,like maybe a week? if things have not changed at all,seek out the opinion of a good knowledgable ortho who specializes in hand surgeries or an actual hand surgeons opinion/eval(not just 'any' ortho,but one who specializes is what you need here trust me on that one). they just would actually be able to tell by what you can still do and possibly cannot,just what could be the real injury level. i am in no way saying you would need actual surgery,just THAT level of real knowledge to really know for certain what may have been really damaged or hit. you could simply have a stunned nerve that will eventually go back to normal too. nerves just don;t react well when touched by anything as they are not supposed to ever be touched,you know what i mean? when my median and ulnar got hit during my sp cord surgery,i could move almost nothing in my left hand at all. it took some in depth(just becasue level of damage)PT at the rehab hosp i had been sent to(i also could not walk with my left leg either. but something totally different than the finger issues did that one to me)just to regain what was still able to come back.
i think you will just have to wait and see how things go,then decide from there after about that week goes by to see whats still there. if it still is not right,then you seek out that specialist just for an eval on it. this could all just be normal healing too ya know? like i mentioned at the very beginning,time will tell just what comes back and what stays. hopefully this will all get back to normal for you soon. but at least you have done all the right things here for yourself so thats really a great thing just in case.
please keep me posted as to howthings are going. good luck, FB
i actually had a real(idiot) ortho doc mis Dx me when i actually blew out the ligaments in my middle finger at work years ago(i fell backwards and landed right ON that middle finger and jammed it badly),this was an actual ortho surgeon ,VERY scarey. he barely touched my finger at all and simply "proclaimed' it was tendons,then had it casted(big no no there and i paid for that one with loss of movement) from the dang finger tips to about mid forearm. it should not have been casted,i needed PT. when that cast came off,that finger was still horribly swollen and black and blue as the day it had happened many weeks before. it was not til my WC person let me see a actual hand surgeon that i found out this actual ortho was that stupid. god i was soo angry(so was the hand surgeon). i am only telling you this as even someone who is supposed to know,did not with me ya know?
i would give this a bit more time,like maybe a week? if things have not changed at all,seek out the opinion of a good knowledgable ortho who specializes in hand surgeries or an actual hand surgeons opinion/eval(not just 'any' ortho,but one who specializes is what you need here trust me on that one). they just would actually be able to tell by what you can still do and possibly cannot,just what could be the real injury level. i am in no way saying you would need actual surgery,just THAT level of real knowledge to really know for certain what may have been really damaged or hit. you could simply have a stunned nerve that will eventually go back to normal too. nerves just don;t react well when touched by anything as they are not supposed to ever be touched,you know what i mean? when my median and ulnar got hit during my sp cord surgery,i could move almost nothing in my left hand at all. it took some in depth(just becasue level of damage)PT at the rehab hosp i had been sent to(i also could not walk with my left leg either. but something totally different than the finger issues did that one to me)just to regain what was still able to come back.
i think you will just have to wait and see how things go,then decide from there after about that week goes by to see whats still there. if it still is not right,then you seek out that specialist just for an eval on it. this could all just be normal healing too ya know? like i mentioned at the very beginning,time will tell just what comes back and what stays. hopefully this will all get back to normal for you soon. but at least you have done all the right things here for yourself so thats really a great thing just in case.
please keep me posted as to howthings are going. good luck, FB
When my mother cut a toe tendon, her toe was completely non-moving and was hanging at an unnatural angle.
Also, the back of the hand (and foot) are delicate areas, but the skin on the palm of your hand is pretty thick. The cut probably didn't even get all the way through the skin, and if it did, in that spot, it would have nicked the muscles that move your thumb, rather than cutting though anything. Nicked muscle isn't that bad.
You say you are looking for answers before doctor? Meaning you are planning to get it checked out? Probably a reasonable precaution, but I think you are safe as long as you keep the cut clean.
Also, the back of the hand (and foot) are delicate areas, but the skin on the palm of your hand is pretty thick. The cut probably didn't even get all the way through the skin, and if it did, in that spot, it would have nicked the muscles that move your thumb, rather than cutting though anything. Nicked muscle isn't that bad.
You say you are looking for answers before doctor? Meaning you are planning to get it checked out? Probably a reasonable precaution, but I think you are safe as long as you keep the cut clean.
if you were actually at work when this happened,you NEED to report this to your direct supervisor so they can do a workmans comp report for you. you should not have to pay to see any doc to have this evaluated properly. this was simply a work related injury. depending upon level of real damage,this could get expensive if something more than just skin and fatty tissue was involved. going thru a WC situation just would allow you to see at least a good ortho or hand surgeon to fully evaluate the level of damage. that area where it sounds like you are describing,well,you could have gotten lucky and hit nothing vital,OR you could have hit a muscle or tendon or nerve(the fact you are having numbness now should be a concern). time kind of tells just what you can still do or not do,ya know? that alone would kind of show any true injury to a vital part of the "working' hand and fingers too. there are just alot of nerves,tendons,muscles and ligaments that allow our hands and fingers to work properly and function normally that need to be checked out right now.
you,and the person who worked on you both need to fill out some paperwork at work in order to get this covered soon(the person who you reported this to first is kind of your 'witness" to the injury too,luckily he was there to stop bleeding and do the right things for you). you just really need an expert opinion on this. the cords for the tendons all run thru that palmer area(not to mention some nerves as well).you just want to make certain by getting this evaled by the right type of doc,that you WILL be able to actually go back to work without any movement issues in that hand. the sooner you get this looked at the better.
how does that cut actually look right now with the steri strips just on it and no stitches? is it still somewhat gaped open or did it stay closed with just those strips? hopefully it will stay closed for you witout any infections developing. it is too late to even have stitches at this point just so you know. there is only so much time that can pass before they just will not attempt to close with sutures at a certain point. hopefully the ends of that cut are actually still touching each other? anymore bleeding going on?
just get to work on informing your supervisor as to what happened at work,they should know what to do for you after that as far as the WC paper work involved. whoever is in charge of the human resources part of things at work is the person who would handle this for you. IF you live in the US? it does not say on your info where you actually live? i do wish you luck with this. but DO get in to see a specialist of some kind just to be certain there is not some level of permenant damage or espescially given your numbness,nerve damage. good luck ad please keep us posted. FB
you,and the person who worked on you both need to fill out some paperwork at work in order to get this covered soon(the person who you reported this to first is kind of your 'witness" to the injury too,luckily he was there to stop bleeding and do the right things for you). you just really need an expert opinion on this. the cords for the tendons all run thru that palmer area(not to mention some nerves as well).you just want to make certain by getting this evaled by the right type of doc,that you WILL be able to actually go back to work without any movement issues in that hand. the sooner you get this looked at the better.
how does that cut actually look right now with the steri strips just on it and no stitches? is it still somewhat gaped open or did it stay closed with just those strips? hopefully it will stay closed for you witout any infections developing. it is too late to even have stitches at this point just so you know. there is only so much time that can pass before they just will not attempt to close with sutures at a certain point. hopefully the ends of that cut are actually still touching each other? anymore bleeding going on?
just get to work on informing your supervisor as to what happened at work,they should know what to do for you after that as far as the WC paper work involved. whoever is in charge of the human resources part of things at work is the person who would handle this for you. IF you live in the US? it does not say on your info where you actually live? i do wish you luck with this. but DO get in to see a specialist of some kind just to be certain there is not some level of permenant damage or espescially given your numbness,nerve damage. good luck ad please keep us posted. FB
thank you for the posts you two.
I forgot to mention we did fill out paper work. We have a whole procedure, when the incident occured, witnesses, etc. We both signed the forum and it's put in a folder.
Sutures was the word I was thinking of... I put new ones of those on today, more disinfectant spray, and another bandage. I am at home now and I took off the bandage to let it heal quicker. It has not bled at all since the initial cut yesterday.
There isn't really numbness in my fingers now. But when making a fist, it feels a bit tighter than my other hand
It doesn't look very deep, so maybe I was just paranoid. After reading up on tendons after I posted yesterday, I don't think I cut one. It's basically a "slit", but a bit smaller than when the razor cut it - I think it's healed a bit. The skin around it looks okay, no discolouration or anything.
I will keep you updated.
p.s - I live in Western Canada.
I forgot to mention we did fill out paper work. We have a whole procedure, when the incident occured, witnesses, etc. We both signed the forum and it's put in a folder.
Sutures was the word I was thinking of... I put new ones of those on today, more disinfectant spray, and another bandage. I am at home now and I took off the bandage to let it heal quicker. It has not bled at all since the initial cut yesterday.
There isn't really numbness in my fingers now. But when making a fist, it feels a bit tighter than my other hand
It doesn't look very deep, so maybe I was just paranoid. After reading up on tendons after I posted yesterday, I don't think I cut one. It's basically a "slit", but a bit smaller than when the razor cut it - I think it's healed a bit. The skin around it looks okay, no discolouration or anything.
I will keep you updated.
p.s - I live in Western Canada.
Booboo the original!
New member
I'm glad you got all appropriate paperwork filled out, you never know when it might be important later.
Yeah, it sounds like you should be fine. A tight feeling is probably normal, due to the cut being a little bit sore and swollen. If it turns red, hot, significantly swollen, it could be infected, but as long as it doesn't get infected, it should be all right.
Yeah, it sounds like you should be fine. A tight feeling is probably normal, due to the cut being a little bit sore and swollen. If it turns red, hot, significantly swollen, it could be infected, but as long as it doesn't get infected, it should be all right.