Finger Nail ripped clean off, question please.

[studentNY]

My 14 yo son dropped a 70 lb hand weight on his hand and his nail was ripped off tearing his cuticle way back. Should it be allowed to dry out, or keep it covered with antibiotic cream and bandage? Thank you.

[twiggii]

I slammed my car door on my thumb and it ripped my nail and the acrylic mostly off it was only hanging by a piece of skin, so I took it off... was that a bad thing to do? Will it heal ok? How do I treat it? Please help because this really hurts.

[teeniebert, LPN]

I know someone who got her hand caught in a door (hinge side) and one fingernail came off--she went to the ER and they were able to reattach it under local anesthetic. The skin under the nail was discolored for a while but otherwise she was just fine. I'm not sure why/how they decided to reattach it vs. treating it as an open wound. I fractured my right great toe a couple years ago and there was lots of bleeding under the nail, which fell off after a couple weeks, then grew back normally. I kept a bandage on it more to keep myself from picking at it than anything else.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

We can not provide medical advice. Please see your provider.

BTW this thread is almost 7 years old.