Quickest way to heal crater in my finger?

[Kickin'Fruit]

I have a gig this Friday Nov. 3rd. I have almost 3 layers of skin missing from the tip of my middle finger and a blister on my index of my right hand. It really hurts, althought I can withstand some pain. I alternate fingers so playing with just my index made my playing a little sloppier. Any quick solutions you can give me to put my middle finger back in action before friday night?

Right now I have neosporin and a bandaid on it but we have practice tomorrow and Friday. Thanks guys.

[bongomania]

The best thing I can suggest is the white fabric adhesive tape sold at drugstores. Just use one layer across the tips and one more around the circumference to hold it in place. Yes, covering your fingertips with tape is less than ideal, but the fabric texture is sort of like fingertip texture, so you can get some decent fingertip control of the strings. Percussionists use that white fabric tape if they get splits in their fingers.

I was going to suggest Dermabond, but they say it will just peel off under a lot of movement and abrasion.

[s.m.80808]

Krazy glue.

[tplyons]

I've superglued my fingertips on occasions such as this. It will wear off, after a long time, just recoat during intermissions.

[Don't_Fret]

Tape sounds like a better solution to me. Be careful with putting superglue under your skin.

[triode6L6a]

Hmmm...I'm no doctor.... but what I've done many times under similar circumstances is to drain the blister by popping it with a sterilized pin or needle after first wiping it down with rubbing alcohol. Then I use a weak solution of hydrogen peroxide on all open wounds. After several applications of that I finish with an application of rubbing alcohol and then put on a bandaid followed by the white tape mentioned earlier.

However.... I generally will put on 3-4 layers of that tape.... and take the roll with me to the gig, along with a "kit" of bandaids and alcohol to take care of any problems between sets.

Also.... I would start taking LOTS (2000-3000 mg) of vitamin C and drink lots of water. This has worked for me MANY times over the past 30 odd years.

[jady]

Use Newskin, I always carry a bottle in my case. in the case of bad blisters I will lance it, peel off the skin and trim up the edges with some nail clippers and the apply newskin liberally for the next few days, The exposed raw skin hardens up in 3-5 days.

[cheezewiz]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fingers 99 percent of the time type of player, but the obvious solution seems to be play with a pick. I've had to do entire gigs with a pick a few times during bouts of right hand tendonitis

[FL Knifemaker]

Super Glue!! I always have some, patching something on my hands

[Kickin'Fruit]

Sweet thanks guys, I was thinking Super Glue as well. Just to reiterate this isn't a blister, it's the blister aftermath. The blister was drained and peeled off during practice. No biggie, withstood the pain... then a blister developed again. Then popped, peeled off. Then a blood blister formed and cracked and I was bleeding profusely.

I think my technique should be play softer, but I was afraid of my guitarist seeing my volume knob "at 11" and telling me to turn down.

I have hockey friction tape on it now and a bandaid with neosporin. This morning it looked a little better. I'm not looking for full recovery, just something to get me through Friday night without incident. Thanks again

[Munjibunga]

I sliced the tip of the "bone finger" of my fretting hand, and I used New Skin on it, which worked OK, but wore off fairly quickly. Then I tried Super Glue on it, and that held the cut closed and lasted about a week. Just squeeze a little on the wound, and don't touch it for about 5 minutes.

[SnoMan]

Originally Posted by Kickin'Fruit

I was afraid of my guitarist

There's your real problem.

[BaldBass]

ditto on the new skin another brand available is tough skin it ought to be in every giging musician's gear bag

[Spector_Ray]

Originally Posted by Don't_Fret

Tape sounds like a better solution to me. Be careful with putting superglue under your skin.

There's no danger in using superglue (cyanoacrelate) under the skin. Your body will absorb it with no ill effects.

[Kickin'Fruit]

Well I played the gig last night and had a blast. I used Krazy Glue, but the problem was I bought a glue pen which you have to press down to get any glue to come out. Haha, so I had little indentations and pain when I was trying to spread it on. But I did a nice coat and then took some sandpaper and sanded it to a smooth finish, It played just like a real finger! hahaha. It had a real fat tone too. I think I might do it from now on.

However, during the show it split open and I was spattering blood all over my bass. I think it fit the genre of the hard metal music though and the crowd thought it was an amazing show.

[JansenW]

It there is still an infection, take care of your finger first. If the infection spreads it could get a lot worse. Otherwise, wrap up the pain and groove.

[Kickin'Fruit]

Originally Posted by JansenW

It there is still an infection, take care of your finger first. If the infection spreads it could get a lot worse. Otherwise, wrap up the pain and groove.

Thanks, I complete wasn't even thinking about my finger today... Stupid of me. But I just wiped it down with a cleansing towellette and some hydrogen peroxide. Bandaged it up with some neosporin on it. I think some of the superglue is still on there. Will it dissipate you think?

[leftyforlife]

Originally Posted by cheezewiz

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fingers 99 percent of the time type of player, but the obvious solution seems to be play with a pick. I've had to do entire gigs with a pick a few times during bouts of right hand tendonitis

thats precisely what i was going to say,
just use a pick, and play softly. works great for me..

[Akito]

I feel your pain...

[MAJOR METAL]

Super Glue or if you can get bio glue.