so i cut the tip of my finger off

[lazydays]

and i'm having a hard getting it to stop bleeding. after an hour of pressure i washed it with iodine and then bandaged it. it felt decent but soaked through after awhile. so I pulled it off and the bandage had stuck to the cut and now it's bleeding lot again even though i rewrapped it. short of going to the er and spending $200 what should i do to treat it? i did not cut off enough to reattach.

[binky]

If you have steristrips (not sure if you can buy them in a pharmacy or not), I'd hold pressure to stop the bleeding then use steristrips to continue the pressure. Then bandage firmly and hope for the best.

[binky]

oops, guess you can buy them -- I'd by 1/2 inch wide ones if possible.

http://www.walgreens.com/store/catalog/B...roduct?V=G&ec=frgl_&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=sku3346707

[M>B>]

GO TO THE ER...

How much is your life worth???

[Kiva]

ya, dude...ER time. Infections, though unlikely, can kill you.

or maybe some sort of clinic in the AM? Save some coin that way...

[DaviDC.]

Keep your hand above heart level & the bleeding will stop.

I've cut the tips off my thumb & index finger on 2 different occasions & both grew back- eventually.

[lazydays]

It truly was a killer tomato

[wowzer]

Amputations, generally speaking, cannot be sutured. It sounds like you may have nicked a small vessel (which is possible, depending on how much you've amputated)...some of these need to be cauterized...you just can't tell over the web. To me, the most worrisome item is whether you've actually hit bone. The skin will grow back, eventually--but you'll likely have some scarring, although complete regeneration has been known to happen, especially if you are young. Tetanus is a possibility (depending on how you've amputated the tip), as is infection. Go to the ER is a good piece of advice on this one, but word to the wise, it'll be more than $200 (in my estimation).

[steve...]

Thank you for not posting pictures.

[lazydays]

After 6 hours I finally decided to go to the ER. Not so much because i thought it was serious but because I couldn't figure out how to not bleed all over the bed. So I get there and the staff has a good laugh about how I got in a knife fight with a tomato and lost. They wanted to know where the tip of my finger was and I said I threw it away. They laughed at that also. As I suspected it was not a serious problem and I just needed something to stop the bleeding. They used Surgicel from Johnson & Johnson which I will be adding to my first aid kit. I also got a tetanus shot which was probably a good idea. So There you have it.