Bashed finger--Do I need to wait before diving again?

[BigTuna]

Four days ago I bashed the end of a finger. Now it's black under the nail, with no sign of fresh blood there. I'm controlling swelling by wearing a compression wrap full-time. There's no skin break and no bone damage.

I'm concerned that if I go diving before the swelling stops that I might be exposing myself to an elevated risk of getting bent, or to bits of blood clot somehow breaking loose in the blood causing their own damage. Do I need to wait before diving again? If so, when can I resume?

 

[miketsp]

From what you're describing I'd say your risk is minimal.

I had a similar situation getting onto a boat and someone let a cylinder fall over onto my big toe.
The nail is just growing back normally after about 2 years & I didn't miss any dives because of it.

I also broke a finger on the second day of a 2 week diving trip and there was no way I was going to waste the trip, so I just strapped it to the next finger with duct tape over the glove.
The dives were worth the agony and quite a few had obligatory deco.
It just didn't set as straight as if I'd had it put in a cast.

My wife also did a weeks diving with 3 cracked ribs.

Maybe we're just crazy and you should ignore this opinion.

 

[Lonefox]

I don't know how swollen your thumb is, but I'd guess by the way you are pondering over whether to go diving, that it can't be that bad, personally I think it's more a matter of personal comfort. You can almost guarantee that if it hurts like hell, you'll bash it numerous times during your day's rigging up, on kit and just about everything else, probably smack a cylinder into it for good measure too.

I don't think blood clots or the bends is likely from a bruised thumb though, as there is still circulation going through it to carry the residual nitrogen back to your lungs, it'd develop gangrene and drop off if there wasn't.

My advice, if you don't feel comfortable with it, don't dive, if it hurts like hell, you probably won't enjoy the dive anyway, don't apply pressure bandages to it either, it's swollen up for a reason, that's part of your body's healing process.

 

[Ken abucs]

I always poke through the nail with a red hot needle. It is completely painless, releases the pressure, and the pain releif is instant. You'll be surprised how much blood comes out.

Good luck, let us know how you make out.

 

[BigTuna]

Thanks for your replies , guys. Good common sense.

DAN sent me this email in response to the same question I posted: There is a theoretical risk of DCS at the injury site. There is no clinical evidence to prove this risk. Most dive physicians would recommend in general waiting until the active swelling has stopped before diving in open water. Active swelling can interfere with normal circulation. Again this is theoretical. Once the swelling has subsided diving is possible. In a confined area such as the tip of the finger there is a minute risk of any clot breaking loose. The blood is accumulated in the soft tissue. Clots can be a problem if larger blood vessels may be involved. This is not the case in your situation.

I took my finger to a doctor, for hands-on advice. She thinks there's nothing to contraindicate diving with the finger as it is now, with its minor swelling. She also said the main reason for drilling a hole through the nail is to let fluid out in order to ease discomfort, and that the hole might admit contamination upon diving. So we didn't drill it.

Putting all the help together... Despite the low apparent risk, the consequences of being wrong are more than I want to accept. So I'll give the injury a chance to settle down some more before diving again. I'll take off the compression bandage, keep the finger elevated as much as I can, ice it periodically, and take Advil to assist circulation.

 

[BigTuna]

For the record, I made a dive 12 days after bashing my finger. The swelling had mostly gone down, and trobbing and "contact pain" had gone away. The nail was still black underneath, FWIW. The dive was an altitude dive to 60 feet sea level equivalent, with a very slow ascent. No problems.

 

[ChillyWaters]

For the record, I made a dive 12 days after bashing my finger. The swelling had mostly gone down, and trobbing and "contact pain" had gone away. The nail was still black underneath, FWIW. The dive was an altitude dive to 60 feet sea level equivalent, with a very slow ascent. No problems.

I don't know about finger nails, but us runners make sure we relieve the pressure behind the nail. It's probably too late now though. But if you don't relieve the pressure, you may find that your nail will later fall off.

Perhaps that's just more of a foot thing, helped along by rubbing against the sock (??).

Anyways, something to think about next time -- relieving pressure is good. In terms of toe nails, they'll often fall off about a month or so after the initial blister. Nail goes black -- new nail starts to grows underneath -- top nail falls off.

- ChillyWaters

 

[BigTuna]

In case the information might be useful for developing your own bashed nail recovery expectations, about 7 months after I bashed my finger the nail and finger are good as new.

The nail did fall off a couple of months after the bash. It was pushed up and off by material that grew underneath. This was totally painless, altho not pretty. As the material toughened, a new nail grew in from the cuticle. It had a cross-wise "dent," caused by the original bash, and this eventually migrated to the end of the nail as my nails grew and I clipped them. Now it looks completely normal.

 

[Orlando Eric]

........My wife also did a weeks diving with 3 cracked ribs.........

BY NEPTUNES TRIDENT Where did you find this woman!?!?!?!?!?!

I bow to thee in the manly salute of unabashed envy and jealously.

I am green with envy