3 days away from hanging up the tool belt and...

[Brian Ashton]

I'm sure it's plenty painful,especially at night. But I think it will heal well and not be obvious. They used to refer to the way those things heal as "granulating",which seems to mean the whole mess finds a way to work the puzzle. Enjoy some rest.

No actually! There's been no pain at all. Only when the doc injected anesthetic other than that it's been painless, paper cuts have hurt more.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ouch Brian! Here's wishing you fast and complete healing!

[Brian Ashton]

Brian, I'm not a doctor, but from what I've read, you might consider being selective with the type of honey that you use. Apparently the best kind is called Manuka honey (the bees pollinate with flowers from the Manuka bush in New Zealand). You can buy medical-grade honey of this type.

A copy from one website, but others I've read more or less say the same thing:

"When considering using honey for the treatment of wounds, it's extremely important to understand that there's a major difference between raw honey—and especially Manuka honey, which is in a class of its own—and the highly processed "Grade A" type honey you find in most grocery stores. The latter is more akin to high fructose corn syrup, which is more likely to increase infection, and should never be used to treat topical wounds! (It also will not offer you the same health benefits as raw honey when consumed.)

Manuka honey, on the other hand, is made with pollen gathered from the flowers of the Manuka bush (a medicinal plant), and clinical trials have found this type of honey can effectively eradicate more than 250 clinical strains of bacteria."

Just thought I'd throw that out there, for what it's worth. Hope you heal soon. I've seen a lot worse. The body is amazing when it comes to healing. It just takes a little longer as we get older.

Ya, I've read a couple abstract from studies and they have also mentioned the Manuka honey. Should be able to find it at a health food store.

I won't post the pics but it's been 36 hours since I've been applying honey and there is a definite difference. It looks like a skin (not skin) has formed over most of the wound, which is the width of my thumb and about half inch long. I can no longer see, what I think is, red muscle tissue; which I could easily see when it first happened.

[Jim Becker]

ail...

Being the inquisitive type I'm going to try a many thousands year old remedy and see if it helps. I'll apply honey a couple times a day and see how it progresses.

Manuka Honey is what you want for this...pricy, but about the best for this healing remedy.

I hope you heal well and was sad to see this post.

[Brian Ashton]

It just dawned on me that I have a hive of native bees in my side yard. I think I'll go tap that supply... It needs to be split anyways so I can kill two birds with one stone. i never wanted to raid their little stores but I don't think they will miss a few cc's

[Jason Roehl]

Unfortunately the caption for the picture seems a bit out of place.

Oh, man, that was so bad--I feel bad for laughing as hard as I did.

Brian, sorry about the injury--hope you mend quickly, but thanks for the reminder to us all that we need to be ever vigilant when using power tools. I had never heard of using honey on wounds, but it sounds good to me. We get our honey from SD whenever my parents go visit (their home state). Always raw--nothing like the fake processed junk sold in stores.

[Chris Hachet]

Sorry to hear that this happened Brian!

[Jim Becker]

It just dawned on me that I have a hive of native bees in my side yard. I think I'll go tap that supply... It needs to be split anyways so I can kill two birds with one stone. i never wanted to raid their little stores but I don't think they will miss a few cc's

LOL...be(e) careful.

Interestingly, Professor Dr. SWMBO took her first beekeeper's class yesterday. She's getting a hive and the bees are ordered for delivery in April. It's a really, really interesting activity and so good for the environment. Actual extraction of the honey isn't a simple task and the gear to do so is pretty expensive...we'll likely engage a local resource to help with that. I already buy local honey and have it nearly every morning...it's a small "goodness" toward allergy relieve, believe it or not.

[John K Jordan]

it's extremely important to understand that there's a major difference between raw honey...and the highly processed "Grade A" type honey you find in most grocery stores.

As a beekeeper, I can say that is spot on. The "grocery store" honey, if it is even 100% honey, has probably been heated and filtered - the heat destroys flavor and much of what is good in the honey. The filtering removes pollen so the origin of the honey can't be traced (much comes from China this way). The best thing about grocery store honey is the excitement in people who taste the difference in real honey for the first time.

JKJ

[Brian Ashton]

Very sorry about your injury and hope you heal very quickly Brian. That looks pretty bad and I'm sure it hurts like you described. Unfortunately the caption for the picture seems a bit out of place.

LOL should have said detached thumbnail

[Jason Roehl]

As a beekeeper, I can say that is spot on. The "grocery store" honey, if it is even 100% honey, has probably been heated and filtered - the heat destroys flavor and much of what is good in the honey. The filtering removes pollen so the origin of the honey can't be traced (much comes from China this way). The best thing about grocery store honey is the excitement in people who taste the difference in real honey for the first time.

JKJ

I had the opposite experience--I was raised on raw honey from SD, and didn't taste store-bought honey until about 10 years old or so. That was such a disappointment... Now I've "corrupted" my wife and kids. They know what good honey is.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I cut the tip off my thumb and it looked very similar to yours, except more off the top. The doctor told me that if there was a sliver of skin over the bone, he could do a skin graft, and I had the tiniest sliver of skin left over the bone, so he would try but there was a chance it would not take. He took a piece of skin from my arm and made a new thumbtip. He told me that because the quick was cut that the nail would not regenerate and either be very short or totally fall off. Well, sir, let me tell you that today you cannot tell which thumb was cut. The nail even grew back, and to top it off, I have 99% of my feeling in my thumbtip. There is a tiny bit of a numb feeling, but I can feel the lightest touch, heat and cold, wet and dry, etc.

Photo shows skin graft a day or so after the injury. Eventually the thumb pad fills back in and the thumb becomes more thumb-shaped.
Frankenthumb.jpg

[Jim German]

Could you explain a bit more what happened? Was it a portable power planer or a stationary one?

I don't know if I like these threads or not. On the one hand it reminds me to be careful, on the other hand it makes me think maybe I should take up a safer hobby.

[Jim Becker]

I had the opposite experience--I was raised on raw honey from SD, and didn't taste store-bought honey until about 10 years old or so. That was such a disappointment... Now I've "corrupted" my wife and kids. They know what good honey is.

I only buy local stuff for consumption...and it's really good. Extremely flavorful. In fact, the dude who produces what I buy is one of the folks running the beekeeping course that Professor Dr. SWMBO is taking.

[Brian Ashton]

I cut the tip off my thumb and it looked very similar to yours, except more off the top. The doctor told me that if there was a sliver of skin over the bone, he could do a skin graft, and I had the tiniest sliver of skin left over the bone, so he would try but there was a chance it would not take. He took a piece of skin from my arm and made a new thumbtip. He told me that because the quick was cut that the nail would not regenerate and either be very short or totally fall off. Well, sir, let me tell you that today you cannot tell which thumb was cut. The nail even grew back, and to top it off, I have 99% of my feeling in my thumbtip. There is a tiny bit of a numb feeling, but I can feel the lightest touch, heat and cold, wet and dry, etc.

I'd say that doesn't look any better than mine, look worse to be honest. I was told it would sort itself out as well.

One thing I wasn't anticipating was the entire tip dying though. I mean the entire tip to about 1/2" down, the skin is dead and it's totally numb! Even all the skin around the needle entry point has died and that's about an inch away from the tip. It's all slowly pealing off and new skin forming underneath. I suspect it wasn't the trauma of trimming it with the planer but the disinfectant they used at the hospital.

I've attached a pic of the progress. What was missing is where you see bright pink skin, the nail has also grown about 1/8", so it was a fairly large chunk that was planed off. To the left and at the tip the pale yellowish skin, that's dead and new skin is pushing up underneath. The clear glaze over it all is honey.

If it were to happen again, and I did something similar, I'm not sure I'd bother with the hospital. Being the first one though I panicked a bit.

So that's been 23 days. Not sure if that's good progress or not.

Could you explain a bit more what happened? Was it a portable power planer or a stationary one?

I don't know if I like these threads or not. On the one hand it reminds me to be careful, on the other hand it makes me think maybe I should take up a safer hobby.

Ya it was an old cheap Bosch green hand power planer - very clunky to use. I suspect I simply wasn't used to it and missed when I went to grab the fence after I finished a cut and missed. I have a nice makita that has a low center of balance and a nice large fence - complete opposite of the one that had a nibble at my thumb. I wasn't distracted, day dreaming or stumble - just miscalculated my grab.