Fingers are one of the most used external body parts of the human body. Many a times we injure our fingers while working. We all have suffered from some or the other kind of finger injuries in our lifetime. These common injuries of the finger include very small cuts and scrapes and also include very serious wounds which many a times cause permanent damage to ligaments, tendons and sometimes even bones. Such major injuries if don’t get appropriate medical attention at time can lead to permanent deformity of fingers and can result in loss of function. Many of these injuries may require the use of a finger brace to heal. Here we will tell you about the various types of finger injuries that most commonly happen to most of us:

An avulsion is an injury in which a part of the skin or the soft tissue is torn off. The most common type of avulsion is when all layers of skin are torn away due to which underlying structures like tissue, muscle, tendons or bones are exposed. This injury is very similar to an abrasion but it is more severe.

An amputation is an injury in which a part of the tissues from the fingers is completely cut off or torn away from that particular finger. This happens as a result of some major trauma or accident and it can be very painful. If left unattended it can cause permanent damage.

A laceration is what we call a cut in general language. A laceration can sometimes go through skin and in worst cases it can even go through blood vessels, nerves and tendons which are present just under the skin, cutting and damaging them.

All the fingers except the thumb are made up of three bones. These bones are also called phalanges. These three bones are known as proximal phalanx, middle phalanx and the distal phalanx. An injury to these phalanxes is an isolated injury but it is generally also connected to injury to fingernails, ligaments or some other soft tissue present around.

The part of the finger which gets wounded most of the times is the fingernail and the nail bed which lies beneath the fingernail. If the injury happens as a result of a direct blow from an object then the bone which lies beneath it can also get damaged.

The fibrous bands that attach the muscles to bones are called tendons. Tendons are mostly damaged by laceration or an injury caused by crushing. It also gets torn away from its bony attachment and this condition is called an avulsion fracture.

If these injuries get required medical help on time then they recover completely preventing permanent damage to one of the most vital parts of the body. So we should seek medical help as soon as we injure our fingers to prevent any sort of permanent damage because damage to the fingers is damage to the complete hand.