Infected big toe ........Help please

[Nutcracker]

Not me, my 4 yr old dd. She bit (yes disgusting, i know) her toe nail off her big toe and now it's very very red, swollen and all infected. I have got some Magnesium Sulphate paste from the chemists and is it drawing the puss out but then it keeps reappearing and getting very inflamed again.
It looks soooo sore and she won't walk properly on it. Should i take her to the g.p or is there anything else i can try.

Doctors Nutty, doctors!
An infected toe can get very serious, very quickly. In the meantime, ditch the magnesium sulphate paste, bathe it in antiseptic 3 times a day and keep it dry as you can - obviously she can have a bath but not too hot and don't let her be in for ages.
To dry it, pat it dry with a clean towel and then apply the antiseptic - a spray on one is best.
She may well have a bacterial and/or fungal infection in there - toes are very susceptible to fungal infections, especially if there is an injury / underlying infection
Doctors!
HTH

Oh blimey, it just gets better and better.
I'm going to have to leave it until monday now though. Wish i'd taken her today now, bugger.

Is there not an A&E at Good Hope. I would take her there rather than leave it over the weekend

Its okay Nutty, thats why I posted the advice about the antiseptic, I assumed you wouldn't be able to go to the GP's till Monday. I don't think her foot will fall off over the weekend
Who suggested the mag sulphate paste? Its only really useful for getting pus out of boils and ulcers, and not everyone agrees with that. It can inhibit bacterial growth, but that doesn't mean it will get rid of it - and it certainly won't impact on any fungal or viral contamination.

If the toe changes colour - very dark red, blue-ish, - and / or becomes very hard, a local casualty might be the best thing though

If the toe changes colour - very dark red, blue-ish, - and / or becomes very hard, a local casualty might be the best thing though

oops! Sorry!

Is it serious enough for A&E though ??

I got the stuff from the chemist. I told them exactly what the prob was and the woman asked the pharmamcist who told her to give me that.

Do they do black jack anymore. That used to be good for stuff like this i think.

It is very red now around the whole toe. She is asleep now, with it bandaged up with that stuff on. I will check it again tommorow and buy some anteseptic stuff instead. If it gets any worse on sunday i will take her to a&e.

Sounds a sensible plan Nutty
I think she probably needs antibiotics; my only real concern (and I am being a scaremongerer here) is if the infection was severe enough to get into her blood stream - but you would soon know if that happened, high temperature etc etc.
The swelling and the heat is probably the body's own defences fighting the infection. Human mouths are not the most hygienic places, she may well have introduced infection when she bit the nail off - did she take the end of it off or the whole thing?
I'd have thought the chemist would have examined the toe to see if there was a boil before giving you the mag sulphate - but then, I'm not a doctor or a pharmacist, but FWIW, I wouldn't use it!

She just bit the end off. She's always doing it. Dp wanted to stick a pin in it, but dd ran a mile (surprise surprise).

Have come to the conclusion that she's just going to be one of these kids thats always got something wrong with them

NO PIN

Thankfully it seems to be a bit better today. The whole toe isn't as red and the pus seems to have dried up.

Am hoping it stays that way.

how is she now Nutty?

Right the infection cleared up, but her nail looks like it's dead.
It's gone very brittle and white. She said it doesn't hurt now, but i've noticed that the skins till looks quite red and when her feet are cold that toe goes purple.

If her nail drops off, will it regrow or not, and does it matter ???