Functional and Aesthetic Outcome of Fingertip Injuries' Management

Elshishtawy, Karim A; Mahmoud, Wael H; Mousa, Gamal I; Ayad, Hashem M

doi:10.21608/ejprs.2020.68218

Functional and Aesthetic Outcome of Fingertip Injuries' Management

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

The Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Egypt

10.21608/ejprs.2020.68218

Abstract

Background: Fingertip injuries are the most common
injuries that occur to the hand, accounting for 4.8 million
Emergency Department visits per year. Fingertip injuries
requires immediate intervention to avoid any complications
or deformities. Several therapeutic modalities have been used
for treatment; either surgical or conservative treatment and
each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages.
However, evidence is still lacking in the literature supporting
either surgical or conservative lines of treatment. The purpose
of the present study is to compare functional and aesthetic
outcomes between surgical and conservative treatment of
fingertip injuries.
Methods: This prospective study included 50 patients
with Allen's type II and III of fingertip injuries divided into
two groups; Group I included 20 patients treated surgically
and Group II included 30 patients treated conservatively which
is further subdivided into subgroup I (Platelet Gel), subgroup
II (Hyaluronic acid) and subgroup III (Fucidic acid).
Results: The conservative treatment showed a significant
improvement regarding the sensory outcome, the range of
motion, rate of complications, the aesthetic outcome and the
patients' satisfaction (p=0.002, 0.001, 0.021, 0.035, 0.026
respectively). The platelet gel in the conservative treatment
showed a significantly shorter time of healing compared to
other modalities of conservative treatment (p=0.004) thus a
significant faster recovery and shorter time off-work (p=0.001).
Conclusion: We concluded that the conservative treatment
provides better functional and aesthetic outcome in treating
fingertip injuries. The use of platelet gel in fingertip injuries
is associated with decreased time of healing and early return
to work.

Keywords

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