4yo trapped finger, 5 weeks later what's happened??

[Wildfire77]

Advice on a finger injury please, 4yo DS caught his finger/nail cuticle in a door about 5 weeks ago, not the first time and usually heals without issue.

A few days later it had the usual bruising, no obvious pain and joint moved fine. No nail loss from what I remember.

This past week we've noticed the cuticle area is red and a prominent bump, no pain when touched but the nail also appears shorter than it should be.

Any idea what could have been happening here?
We're seeing GP this week.

Thank you!

Looks like they’ve lost the nail to me.

I’ve lost my nail twice, same finger! And this is how mine looked when it dropped off😅

Infected cuticle bed. Will know for sure if they get white pus forming under the skin.

My son had something very similar but more bruised and black after a finger injury. I took him to A and E after a GP appointment and they drained it with a needle thing and laughing gas. His was sore though.

how can that not be painful?

Can he fully straighten it the end joint? Could have a tendon injury - mallet finger. It looks like the finger is a bit dropped to to me. It is probably worth going to the minor injury unity soon as might need to have an X-ray and be treated in a splint.

Looks infected to me. DD had similar redness and swelling after she pulled a loose bit of cuticle off. Needed a course of antibiotics but cleared it up pretty quickly.

There is likely pus in that. Then the nail will be coming off...

Thanks for the comments everyone, he really shows no concern for it and when asked says there's no pain, uses it to help grip things etc.
Need a closer look on movement, just trying not to bring too much attention to it yet.

Given it's 5 weeks later an infection seems unlikely and would've expected the nail to be off by now, the bump feels quite firm and it isn't warm. In my head, it feels like the back of the nail, perhaps there's a joint problem hidden underneath.

Will look for an x-ray in the very near future and update.

Quick update, we headed to minor injuries and had an x-ray.

No breaks found, consultant rang around and the agreement was that there was some damage to the nail cuticle area which stopped the nail growing for a few weeks (common) and that the swelling is simply the process of increasing bloodflow to restart the nail growth.

The new nail will take 2-3 grows until it's smooth and back to normal so assuming 6+ months but overall, all good.

Still slightly swollen but no pain, oozing or any negatives. See you again in a few months :)