So, I sliced off the tip of my finger...

3tsb · #1 01-26-2011, 09:29 AM

with my kitchen mandolin on Saturday. Not too bad. About an 1/8" and the size of a small raisin. I could see the 3 layers of skin like tree rings and just a tiny white dot in the middle. Probably the nerve or just some tissue under the epidermis. The piece was not savable, so I just tossed it after reading the web stuff. I dunked it in Peroxide and wrapped it up. Bummer though it was the middle finger on my left hand. We have two shows this weekend and did a quick run-thru of the set last night. I didn't use my middle finger for fretting. My hand cramped a little, probably from trying to keep my finger out of the way of the other three and my index finger got a little sore from all the sliding for postion shifts, but I managed to get through the set less some fills and quick half step movements. We'll see how it goes in a few days. Anyone else done something similar? How long was it before you were back to "normal'?

Richland123 · #2 01-26-2011, 09:40 AM

I cut off the tip of the middle finger on my right hand many years ago. I had it sewn back on with 12 stitches and played that week. Not good and very painful. Fortunately, after it healed and the old tip fell off, I had new skin underneath and the fingerprint lined up itself (which amazed me). I have a scar but have a normal looking finger. For many years, it would get very itchy before we would have bad weather.

As a bass player, remember how valuable your hands and fingers are.

mongo2 · #3 01-26-2011, 09:47 AM

In teh late '70s I sliced the top of my thumb nearly off. It was just hanging by a thin piece of skin. I put the flap back applied pressure for quite a while to minimize the bleeding and bandaged it with what I had handy...blieve it or not...duct tape. It healed fine.

PhonixBass · #4 01-26-2011, 09:54 AM

I nearly sawed through my index finger (about 5/8 the way through) with a serrated knife with cutting crutons at work. I couldn't hold a note without my eyes watering. I couldn't play with that finger for about three weeks.

I've also had some deep cuts on my finger tips that would swallow strings when I tried to bend.

rodsnhawgs · #5 01-26-2011, 09:56 AM

New Year's Eve Day, 1970: Slicing a ham and sliced my left index finger to the bone instead... between the first and second knuckles (next to my hand). Splinted it with a popsicle stick and some adhesive tape so it wouldn't bend and open up the wound.

Played a four-hour New Year's gig that night with the other 3 fingers...

41 years later...I still have a 3/4" scar on that finger

bolophonic · #6 01-26-2011, 10:05 AM

Working in shops, I have sliced my fingers countless times, shot a couple of staples into fingertips, and even drilled into the side of a finger with a power drill once. I am careful, but things happen. Direct pressure and duct tape usually holds it all together and the skin on your hands heals pretty quickly (and painfully.) Your fingers will be tougher for it!

Bloodhammer · #7 01-26-2011, 10:10 AM

A little over a year ago I sliced a really deep gash right into the middle of my right middle fingertip while working. I tried to superglue it, but the blood kept washing out the glue, so I put a bandaid on it and then wrapped that with three layers of electrical tape. The guys at band practice didn't even ask about the tape on my finger or whether I'd be able to play!

Of course I could, but I was doing a lot of one-finger playing for a week and a half!

mongo2 · #8 01-26-2011, 10:10 AM

Almost forgot...I also drilled through my left index finger with a 1/8 inch bit about 3/4 inch from the tip. Emergency room time for that one and they cleaned it x-rayed it and bandaged it. I couldn't play for several months. That one left a scar at the entrance and exit and it still feels funny.

I also sliced the same finger to the cartilage above the second knuckle while wiping off a knife with a paper towel. That one also put me in the emergency room but I refused stiches and they just butterflied it togetner and splinted it...healed fine, no scar. Lost another month of playing time.

Bloodhammer · #9 01-26-2011, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bolophonic

Working in shops, I have sliced my fingers countless times, shot a couple of staples into fingertips, and even drilled into the side of a finger with a power drill once. I am careful, but things happen. Direct pressure and duct tape usually holds it all together and the skin on your hands heals pretty quickly (and painfully.) Your fingers will be tougher for it!

Done that before! Only it was the palm of my hand on the first knuckle at the base of my middle finger. Amazingly, the pain was faster than the bit (1/4") and I flung the drill away before it cut the tendon! I now have a twisted "S" shaped scar there.

SchizoBassist · #10 01-26-2011, 10:22 AM

No photo, no sliced finger

3tsb · #11 01-26-2011, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SchizoBassist

No photo, no sliced finger

I'll see what I can come up with. I just redressed it last night, so give me another day.

dave_p · #12 01-26-2011, 11:07 AM

i cut the tip of my left middle finger with a hedge shear. took a big chunk that hung on by a little bit. looked like a toilet cover. 11 stiches to put it back together. the tip just died and fell off anyway. was out for a few months. the woodshedding i did when i was able to play again helped advance me skillwise from where i was before the injury.

Phalex · #13 01-26-2011, 11:21 AM

I was making stuffing for Thanksgiving maybe 8 or 10 years ago. I was slicing a leek the long way, and it rolled on me.

I lopped off a good hunk of my left index finger. Luckily, I didn't have a gig Thanksgiving weekend, but I did have to play the following weekend. I did it somehow. (God bless Neosporin!)

I can still see where the chunk of flesh went. It's kinda flat.

abrasive · #14 01-26-2011, 11:28 AM

Oh, bad memories.

1992 or so... I cut a chunk nearly the size of a dime out of my RH index finger, and there was no flap - it was gone. Went to the ER, they ended up grabbing a plastic surgeon and he did a skin graft from the side of my hand (there are ridges there like there are on the fingertips). Got out of the ER that afternoon with a big old bandaged up index finger and what looked like a little stitched-up shark bite in the side of my right hand.

But that's not the best part.

The best part is that I had a gig. THAT NIGHT.

Had never used a pick for bass before and couldn't hold one anyway, so I used my ring and middle fingers to play. Zero callouses on my ring finger. End of first set - blood blister on my ring finger. Mid-second set, it had broken open. By the end of that set there was blood on my (of course it was) white bass. Somewhere I have a tape of that gig - lead singer goin', "And there's BLOOD on the BASS TONIGHT!"

I have a really funny fingerprint now.

M0ses · #15 01-26-2011, 11:33 AM

Well this doesn't really count, since it wasn't a cut and it wasn't my finger.

But one time, my fretting hand/wrist was bitten by a dog about an hour before a show. It hurt like hell, but luckily fretting didn't actually make it worse. It was a two set show but we had to take a short break in each set to change my bandage because it become soaked in blood. Good times. Great show, though, aside from the pain I played pretty well.

pie_man_25 · #16 01-26-2011, 12:26 PM

One time I burned my index finger really badly while soldering some stuff together, this was the day before my music class exam, and my piece was YYZ by Rush. Luckily the teacher actually understood the fact that I couldn't play quite as well as I would have if I didn't, and I still passed.

VisualShock · #17 01-26-2011, 12:33 PM

Almost a year ago now I put my left(fretting) index finger through a table-saw, and needed 8 stitches to close it back up. I have no sensation from the last knuckle onwards on the palm-side of my finger! If nothing else, you'll get used to it, and keep playing!

EDIT: For the morbid and twisted among you, I can PM a picture of the wound 10 days afterwards, having had the stitches taken out

jpeaslee · #18 01-26-2011, 12:35 PM

A couple years ago in college I sliced my right birdie finger tip clean off. Not quite as bad as yours (and certainly not as bad as these bone sawing people), maybe the size of about 2/3 a raisin? When I did, it really wasn't immediately painful, but damn it bled. I didn't go to the hospital (those are for whimps... or people with insurance, right?) but I was kinda nervous going to sleep as the bleeding hadn't stopped on its own. I just wrapped it up really good. Apparantly I spilled some blood around the house and left some of the rags/bandages out. My roomie was pretty worried that something terrible had happend to me. I should have taken pictures of the apt afterwords... it did look pretty bad.

Everything healed up just fine, but it'll sure make you how much you use your finger tips (besides playing bass/guitar), and in a very painful way. I'm still missing about a 1/4" circle of my fingerprint, its just really white.

Hope everything heals up well for ya.

michael_atw · #19 01-26-2011, 12:38 PM

Sheesh, now I know why Obama wants health care for everyone after reading this thread.

Angus · #20 01-26-2011, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3tsb

with my kitchen mandolin on Saturday. Not too bad. About an 1/8" and the size of a small raisin. I could see the 3 layers of skin like tree rings and just a tiny white dot in the middle. Probably the nerve or just some tissue under the epidermis. The piece was not savable, so I just tossed it after reading the web stuff. I dunked it in Peroxide and wrapped it up. Bummer though it was the middle finger on my left hand. We have two shows this weekend and did a quick run-thru of the set last night. I didn't use my middle finger for fretting. My hand cramped a little, probably from trying to keep my finger out of the way of the other three and my index finger got a little sore from all the sliding for postion shifts, but I managed to get through the set less some fills and quick half step movements. We'll see how it goes in a few days. Anyone else done something similar? How long was it before you were back to "normal'?

DON'T DO PEROXIDE!!!!! It damages the tissue boundaries and will slow the healing (and potentially make the result much worse if you keep doing it). Keep it clean and let it heal, but DON'T USE PEROXIDE.