Finger abcess

[Bunny2607]

My son is on antibiotics for an abcess on his finger. Yesterday it was just red swollen and angry but today it has gone green around the nail (pic attached). Obviously i would love to pop it 😆 but the fact its gone green does this mean the antibiotics aren’t working and i should take him back to the doctors? He started the antibiotics at 11am yesterday. Thanks

In my experience antibiotics take a few days to work. How long a course was he given?

Oooooooo. Takes me back to holiday with sil who had exact thing. She wanted to swim,had been o abs for 4 days. She had a stiff drink then shoved her hand in hot water. Her nail was soggy so I shoved a sterile needle in it. Gobs of green shot out and hit the mirror. It dried up and never resurfaced. ☹️. Now I'm not saying that you should attack that, but a few good long soaks wont hurt. Check it's not spreading/tracking obviously. After 3 days I'd maybe call in the pharmacy first. If it's getting worse not improving straight to dr.

I had something similar years ago and I sterilised a needle to pop it….the relief when it all oozed out was wonderful. Cleaned with salt water solution afterwards.

5 days, 4 times a day. Its been just over 24 hours now

I’m going to bath him in a hot bath tomorrow and let it soak and then try to get the pus out then bathe in saltwater. I’ve had it myself before and know its only got better and felt relief once the gunk is out but when its my son i hesitate abit more, if it was me i’d just go at it 🤣

Well, that’s a corker. Poor boy, does it hurt???

Poor boy. That looks so sore.

if the redness isn’t spreading I’d carry on with the AB’s for another day. If it is then call 111 tonight. Soak it lots in hot water. It can just be a small bowl, it doesn’t need to be a bath.

I assume the antibiotics were given over the phone.

It needs popping ASAP, it looks like a whitlow.

The relief will be immense.

Yes he’s been complaining of pain tonight and he doesn’t complain of pain or illness often at all so i know it must be bad for him to say something

We were away at our caravan so ended up at out of hours as we went to the pharmacy to try get some antibiotic cream and they said we needed to be seen as they thought oral antibiotics were needed, so gp saw in person and prescribed them.
i came home yesterday as was working today but he is still away with my mum til tomorrow, my mum daren’t touch it she’s worried about making it worse but i’m going to bathe it tomorrow and try gently get the pus out as i know thats the only way to get relief really. Last time i had it my finger was absolutely throbbing

You want to go to the nearest minor injuries unit and get them to lance that. Instant relief! I had one earlier this year
its called a paronychia.

I think the green means trhe ABs are working.

Well he’s home and had a hot ish bath to soften the skin. When he got out i managed to gently pop it and get the pus out, and then a load of bright red blood came out 😳 we went to the pharmacy and the pharmacist checked his finger as i was worried and he just said to keep bathing it in cooled boiled saltwater and i bought some germalene and nurofen to try take the swelling down.

The blood is probably a good sign to be honest - I think it means the pus has all gone. Hopefully it heals up soon. I bet he feels so much better now it's been popped.

Oo my child had this . We had to get it lanced . GP wouldn’t do it , so sent us to A&E it felt like a waste of resources but had to be done . The stuff that come out of it ! Instant relief for them though x

Does he say it’s feeling any better since it was popped?

I’m jealous

Well my boy is on his 2nd course of antibiotics for his finger as it started swelling again and went abit yellow. When we were at the doctors she was in 2 minds whether to give a second course or whether it needed cutting and draining as it was quite swollen. I could see my son panicking so managed to get a 7 day course of antibiotics instead of the previous 5 day course. We were then out later that day and my son burst it again and presented me with a finger covered in pus in the middle of the park! He said he burst it as there is no way he is getting it cut and drained 🤣 anyway hoping this second lot does the trick 🤞🤞 he did have instant relief when it burst the first time but it started to come back unfortunately.

Definitely soak in hot water and then squeeze as hard as he can tolerate! Does he bite round his nails?

He squeezed himself the moment he heard the words cut and drain 😆 yes he does bite his nails which is whats caused it in the first place i think. Hopefully he has learnt his lesson and will stop now!

I had one of those, it REALLY hurts