What Happens If You Cut off Your Finger Tip

When you accidentally cut off your finger tip, it’s honestly so scary! Last year I was making scalloped potatoes and sliced the tip of my finger off with the mandoline. I had to go to the hospital and was lucky there was no major damage and for the most part it grew back. I do have some nerve damage though as I don’t have feeling in some areas of my finger.

*** Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nurse, or medical professional of any type. These are the very simple thoughts and ideas that I formed while healing from cutting the tip of my finger off. Please do not take this as medical advice, and if you have concerns please contact a medical professional immediately. ***

What You Should Do:

First things first, you need to determine if it’s an amputation or the tip cut off. If you’re unsure, treat it as an amputation. It’s better to have the piece and the doctor say its not needed, then not have the piece and the doctor say it could have been reattached.

Tip Cut off:

1. Clean with water or saline form your first aid kit
2. Cover with sterile dressing to contain the blood
3. Elevate your finger above your heart
4. Go to the ER

Amputated:

1. Follow the tips for tip cut off
2. Locate the amputated part and cover with moist gauze
3. Put amputated part in water tight bag with no holes. This is very important. You can’t let the amputated part get wet.
4. Put the amputated part on ice. DO NOT ALLOW THE AMPUTATED PART TO BE DIRECTLY ON THE ICE! It can cause damage to the opened nerves and tissue.
5. Go to the ER

What The Doctors Will Do:

The doctors will check for 3 major things:

1. Exposed Bone
2. Missing Tissue
3. Injury to Nail or Nail Bed

Minor Tissue Injury:

This is what I had.

1. Place dressing over the wound
2. May have to wear a splint
3. After 1-2 days you’ll have to soak your finger daily in a saline solution.
4. It may heal on it’s own in 2-4 weeks

Large Tissue Injury or Exposed Bone Injury:

If you have a larger tissue injury there are 2 ways to fix this:

1. Skin grafting
2. Reconstructive flap surgery

If you have an exposed bone injury there are 2 ways to fix this:

1. Reconstructive flap surgery
2. Replantation

Complications

As with any injury, there are some complications that could arise:

1. Infection
2. Numbness
3. Hyper sensitivity
4. Abnormal nail growth

If you have any tips on what to do if you cut off your finger tip, I would love to hear about them in the comment section.