Help, dd has badly infected big toe, its disgusting. What to do?

[lavenderkate]

DD1 is 13 yrs and has just casually mentioned her painful septic toe after pulling off a hangnail.

I have just pulled off her sock and was really shocked to see a very swollen red big toe, with a large balloon of infected flesh sticking out from under the nail.

Never seen anything quite as bad, what do I do with it?

Urgh - take her to the doctors for some antibiotics - do not poke it.

Look out for veins tracking (red lines from the toe going up towards the heart), feel for heat coming from the toe, watch for flu like symptoms and if any of that sounds familiar go this weekend for treatment, before she develops septacaemia.

Have soaked it in hot water, put savlon on it and a large plaster. Will that be enough til tomorrow morning?

She seems ok in herself.

God I was shocked at the sight of it.

DD had this the first time she had ab's the second time it was a bank holiday weekend so we went to Boots and they advised us to use magnesium sulphate paste. It was gone in a day the white pussy blister sort of deflated.
If you do buy it get some gauze aswell.

Magnesium sulphate paste (or drawing ointment) causes any foreign body (be that a splinter, or a bucket of pus) to rise to the surface to aid healing. However if infection has already set in, will not solve your problem because it only takes a few hours for the blood to start carrying it around and causing major issues.

Soaking in hot water is not necessarily helpful. Unless it's filthy leave it be!

Air is good. Plaster will just adhere to the wound and make removal painful and icky. Yuck.

She will be fine till the morning yes.

Should be OK O/N...but get thee to a walk-in/out of hours surgery first thing tomorrow.

Skin infections are actually v v dangerous.

You could make a poultice. Immersing in hot water is useful, it draws the poison away from the places that it shouldn't be. Do get a nurse/doc or preferably a chiropodist to look it over soon.