Smashed my finger -- under my nail is all black?

Question

I play field hockey, and yesterday in my scrimmage my right pinkie got jammed in between two sticks. At first, it just stung really bad. But gradually, underneath my entire nail has become black. The other side of my finger is purple, and there are red dots near the top. The nail itself is completely intact.

My mom says I could possibly lose the nail. Is there anything I can do to make it heal faster, or prevent from losing the nail? Any sort of pressure on the pinkie hurts -- I'm not even typing with it, haha. Thanks so much to anyone who can help!

Answer 1

It's blood. No big deal for now. Just ice it.

But if it starts throbbing, you might wanna go to a doctor. Or you could release the blood from under your nail by yourself. To do this, you will need a lighter, guaze, a needle, and some rubbing alcohol.

Step one: sterilize the needle and the finger nail with the alcohol.

Step Two: heat the needle up with the lighter.

Step three:  apply the needle to the nail at a 90 degree angle. Apply sight pressure.

Repeat steps 2-3 as necessary until you get some blood coming out.

Step four: soak up the blood with the guaze.

Its really not that painful, it actually feels really good because the pressure that is making your finger throb is going away.

Answer 2

go to the doctor, one of my friends did that to his thumb and he dropped a HUGE bass drum on it and he had to go to the doctor to get a hole puntured into his nail to relieve the pressure...so go to the doctor they'll poke a hole in your pinkie and give you some stuff that will heal it..:D

I hoped I helped

Answer 3

You can drill a small hole in the nail and let the pressure from the blood drain.  

Answer 4

There is nothing you can do to stop the nail from coming off it does sound as though it will. You could try arnica tabs they should help with the bruising.

Answer 5

The black is dried blood. Yes, you may lose the finger nail, but it will grow back.

Answer 6

the naIL is black because of blood underneath nail and purple from bruising and i am sure that the nail will come off eventually but a new one will grow back fairly quickly so no worries just let air to it and the nail will come off by itself or as a new one starts growing  

Answer 7

you probably will lose the nail but a new one will grow under the ugly one and push the ugly nail off.. my son is going through this now.. the ugly nail is just about to come off so we are keeping his thumb wrapped because he keeps catching the nail on things and it hurts so I bought corn covers for toes so they would stay in place .. they work better than a bandaid

Answer 8

carefully drill a small hole and release the blood with a drill bit, that may save the nail50/50

Answer 9

Its best to remove the nail so it doesn't cause further infection, they may inject some medicine that makes you lose feeling in that area for a period of time, so that means they will inject your pinky.. Well if they were to remove the nail without the injection it would hurt twice as bad.

If they did remove it, it would grow back in time.

As for you still being able to play Hockey, I would give it a little time to heal maybe a month or two. Best of luck!

Answer 10

The black color underneath the nail is an accumulation of blood under the nail. The pressure sensation is due to the blood in the space. One way to relieve that pressure is to make a small pinpoint hole in the nail which will relieve the pressure. (you might need to see your provider for that). If the finger hurts quite a bit you might want to immobilize it as it might be broken or badly sprained. You can use two popsicle sticks with some tape. If there was enough trauma to the nail it will fall off, there is nothing you can do about that.