ok moms, here's one for you. my 3 1/2 yr. old daughter recently has had her thumb and index finger completly all pussy and very red and swollen. my hubby and i thought at first that is was a spider bite, i took her to the dr. and they right away asked if she was a nail biter. and i said on occasion. so they said that they see this kind of reaction when kids bite their nails too much. has any one ever heard of this? i suppose this would make sense. i feel so bad, its so painful and just looks like it hurts, she can't sleep nor can i cuz she is up crying. they did drain it and give me anitbiotics for her.
she was sick last week w/a cold, so i was thinking that maybe while she was sick she bite her nails and that caused the infection to get in there. its just really bad now.
well, if any one has any comments, i would be open to them.
thanks!
C.,
Whenever my sons has an infection on their finger, I buy some peroxide at the store or pharmacy. I give them a shot glass of peroxide so they can dip their finger in it. If it starts bubbling...that's good which is the sign of the infection getting treatment. Do this for 3-5 days and the finger should be healing.
My daughter had something very similar to this also. She is a thumb sucker and I think she was using her teeth a little at the time. Her thumb was all red, bumpy, swollen, etc. It looked mangled! The Dr. said put on it (rub in) some hyrdrocortisone (might have been Cortaid) and then put on a generous amount of neosporin preferably with pain relief. Good Luck and I hope she heals up fast!
my son has had it and I am a nurse at a peds office and it happens frequently- you can have your child soak her fingers in warm water with antibacterial soap in it 3 times a day for 10-15 min- this helps open and drain. antibiotics are not always necessary but good to prevent infection spreading or getting worse. Good Luck!
I feel so bad for her.
I am a Nail Technician and when I have a client that has a problem like this I suggest going to the dr (which you already did and he is right) and soaking it in warm water with as much Epsom Salt as the water can disolve. This will help draw out the infection and ease her pain. After soaking it I would put on some Neosporin and bandage it to keep it clean.
I hope she feels better soon!
You're going to think I'm crazy but this really works. I've used this suggestion several times to draw out infection from a scraped knee that had a rock embedded in it, infected thumb that was about to lose a nail etc. At night use a slice of potato and bandage around the infected area. The next morning the infection will have been drawn out and you can continue with the cleaning and neosporin during the day. Like I said, it sounds crazy but it really does work amazingly.
I agree with the other posts and if you can, buy the "Neosporin w/ PAIN ease", it works well. After you've done the salt bath and it's time to bandage up the area, use this product because the little numbing agent in there comforts the pain. Especially in the summer when the kids scrape their knees, it's a good product to have around.
Good luck.
How long has she been on the antibiotic? I would think a day or two would be enough to start some relief. Then I would also give her some tylenol or Ibuprofen for the pain.
If it hasn't gotten better within three days or so I would take her to another doctor for a second opinion. I wouldn't think it would take long to get some kind of relief.
My daughter did this a few years ago. It was red and swwollen and I treated it as suggested by soaking in Epsom Salt and warm clothes to help ease it. When it hurt a lot, we put cool clothes. It lasted about a week. By the time we got to the doctor, there wasn't much to do but what we were already doing since it was already starting to go away.
At any one time we have millions of germs sitting on our skin, regardless of how much antibacterial stuff is out there. You touch things, such as a doorknob, a counter or anything else, and you have them on you. They then multiply. All it really takes is an open area or a warm moist environment (which is ideal) to get into and multiply some more, and voila! You have an infection.
Use whatever your pediatrician has recommended for you for pain or fever to help with the pain. Some say tylenol, some say ibuprofen---it might help to elevate it---on a pillow, and a cold pack might further help with the pain.
At about 3 yrs my son had an infection on his thumb (unrelated to nail biting). The Dr suggested soaking it 2x a day. I was worried about how I could get a busy 3-yr-old to sit still and soak his hand. The Dr recommended giving him boats to play with in the sink. It worked wonders and he looked forward to his "soaking" time every day.
