What should I do if paronychia becomes purulent?

If paronychia becomes suppurative, it means the condition is quite serious. If you want to effectively treat it, the patient must pay attention to the correct methods of hot compress and physical therapy, which are relatively effective. Of course, the best way is to solve it through a minor operation.

1. Medication treatment

1. In the early stages, you can use treatments such as soaking the affected finger in hot water or hot compress, applying ointments, physical therapy, and raising the affected limb, which can generally relieve the symptoms. When pus is present, incision and drainage should be performed in time. Digital nerve block anesthesia or local anesthesia at the base of the finger can be used; the affected limb is elevated, and a rubber band is used to encircle the base of the finger to temporarily block the blood supply to the finger; then the operation is performed.

2. For unilateral paronychia, make a longitudinal incision in the posterior nail fold, turn up the skin edge, clean out the pus cavity, and insert an oil gauze strip for drainage. A small piece of the posterior nail fold may also be removed. If the infection has spread to periungual inflammation or subungual abscess, part of the nail should be removed or the entire nail should be removed depending on the extent of the infection. When pulling out the nail or removing part of the nail, a flat and blunt stripper should be used to separate the lateral nail fold, posterior nail fold and nail bed to avoid damaging the nail bed and nail matrix tissue. When the nail is fully free, use hemostatic forceps or needle holder to pull out the nail shell along the longitudinal axis of the finger, and check in detail whether the pulled out nail is complete. If any defects are found, the remaining nail fragments should be removed to avoid affecting wound healing.

3. After nail removal, the new nail can usually completely cover the nail bed after 3 to 4 months. As long as the infection focus is not destroyed or the nail bed or nail matrix is ​​not damaged during surgery, the new nail will generally not be deformed.

2. Preventive Care

1. Take good care of the skin around your nails and avoid any damage to them. Nails should not be cut too short and you should not pull out "hangnails" with your hands.

2. Take precautions before they happen. Wood thorns, bamboo thorns, sewing needles, fish bones, etc. are the foreign objects that are most likely to injure the nail groove in daily life. You should be extra careful when participating in labor or doing housework.

3. Pay attention to the maintenance of your fingers. Apply some Vaseline or skin care cream after washing your hands and before going to bed to enhance the disease resistance of the skin around the nail groove.

4. When there are minor injuries on your fingers, apply 2% iodine and then bandage them with a Band-Aid to prevent infection.

5. In the early stages of paronychia, hot compresses, physical therapy, and external application of Paronychia Kang can be used, and sulfa drugs or antibiotics can be taken if necessary.

6. If the wound has become purulent, you should go to the hospital for timely incision and drain the pus. Prevent the spread of infection and cause phalangeal osteomyelitis

7. If there is pus accumulation under the nail, the nail should be removed to facilitate adequate drainage and complete healing.