I have chewed the skin down the side of my finger

[mosschops30]

Days ago until it bled, now my fingertip is red, swollen to twice the size of other fingertip, throbbing, sore.

Dh thinks its full of pus and i should break the skin.

Any suggestions? Will it go down? Anyone had this?

Do not break the skin

Go to a pharmacy and get them to look at it - you probably need magnesium sulphate to draw it out

Be careful though as it can get infected easily - happened to me and I lost a fingernail (I pulled some skin off the side of my finger)

Tonight you can dip it in a cup of very hot water and salt (egg cup is a good size)

As hot as you can bear

The link below will help.

www.ehow.com/how_4512223_cure-infected-finger.html

You need to do something and yes, it probably is pus. Very very painful. Sorry for you.

I dont have epsom salt, can i use nrmal salt?
It hurts like fuck!!

That is indeed very painful. It has a name (always helps when something has a name, makes it feel like it's ok to feel sorry for oneself). You have paronychia. I would second the pharmacist and some magnesium sulphate cream - usually works v well.

Plus where i originally chewed it has healed so no where for pus to escape unless i break the skin, it will poison my body, i will get sepsis, my internal organs will fail and i will end up in icu over just my finger

Had this a couple of times.

I played the waiting game - did nothing - it eventually got back to normal after a few days. Bloody painful.

You might die. Or the magnesium sulphate paste might do the trick. Either way, it's probably worth giving it a go...

You can use normal salt

Tis a bad habit and I have succumbed several times.

Very painful, have had it also. You can have a hot bath, that may burst it- also painkillers till tomorrow! Hasnt cured me if my habit though!

Ugh. I had this once and had to retire to bed because I couldn't move my arm.

Lance it. Now.

*disclaimer: this post is intended to be anecdotal only and is not intended to replace the advice of your health care practitioner.

As Ruby said, you can use normal salt. In my experience, the hotter the water the better.

When I had this my GP recommended making a paste out of soap bar shavings, oddly enough it worked! You could also try using Savlon as a poultice, worked a treat on ds3's infected cuts last Summer.

Oh and owwwwww! I know how sore they are