Finger injuries

Some finger injuries are serious and will need immediate medical attention at the emergency department. Don’t attempt to drive yourself to hospital if you have a serious hand or finger injury.

Serious injuries – go straight to hospital

Go to the emergency department immediately if you or a family member has:

• a fully or partly amputated (cut off) finger
• finger bone poking through the skin
• crushed fingers
• something stuck deeply into a finger.

If high-pressure air or grease has accidentally been injected under the skin of your finger, this can be a very serious injury and needs hospital attention. (This can happen with painting or lubricant applications.)

Before going to hospital, here are some basic steps to follow.

• Don’t remove any objects stuck into the finger. If there’s an object in a bleeding wound, apply pressure around the area – not directly over it.
• Elevate and support the injured hand in a comfortable position to reduce pain and prevent further injury. Keep as still as possible.
• If the injury is bleeding, cover it with a clean cloth and apply firm pressure. If bleeding continues through the cloth, add more material. Do not remove the first cloth. Continue to apply pressure.
• Don’t eat or drink anything.

If you can, it’s helpful to take any current prescription or other medication with you to hospital. You may need a tetanus injection if you haven’t had one in the last 10 years.

If a finger is amputated (cut off)

If possible, find the amputated finger and skin, cover it with clean gauze and place in an airtight container such as a plastic bag.

Put the container inside a chilly bin or another container with ice.

• Do not put the finger in direct contact with ice.
• Don’t use dry ice.
• If you have no ice use very cold water – but do not put the finger in direct contact with water.

When to see your doctor

See your doctor for less urgent injuries or other finger problems, such as:

• any new severe pain in your finger, or if it’s pale, discoloured or cool compared to the other fingers
• if you can’t remove rings after using soap, lotion, oil, petroleum jelly or other lubricants and this is causing pain, discolouration or severe swelling
• any obvious new deformity, like an odd angle or obvious misalignment in your finger
• something stuck in your finger that can’t be removed
• signs of infection, like redness, swelling or a hot feeling in your finger
• if a fingernail is completely torn off or hanging
• bleeding under your fingernail, if this is very painful.

Call Healthline 0800 611 116 if you are unsure what you should do.