A bit more than a month ago I cut my fingers, pretty deep, so now I lack feeling right above the cuts and from the center of the cut to the fingertip. The transition between normal feeling and no feeling is the same as when your arm or leg is asleep, a bit tingling and weird sensitivity.
Here is a list of a few things that are odd to do when you lack feeling in half your finger:
- When cutting your nails you can’t tell if it’s the nail or the finger itself you’re cutting!
- Move a wet finger over a surface which is usually not slippery and the low friction surprises you as you can’t feel that the finger is wet.
- Move a dry finger over something cold and the finger feels slippery where you cannot feel the cold.
- When scratching your eye coordination is a bit off as you can’t feel where you are scratching with the finger, you notice when you poke your eye though.
- Press hard on any button and you can’t feel on the skin how hard you are pushing it.
- Gripping something heavy between the thumb and that finger and it feels like you only have a good grip with the thumb as you can’t feel the friction on the finger.
- Putting a CD on the finger is an odd sensation. It feels like it should fall off because you can only feel it resting on one side of the finger, even though you see it resting on both!
- When removing a piece of tape from the finger where some parts of the skin cannot feel anything the sensation is that those parts of the skin peeled off with the tape! Even more so if you are not watching it.
Below is a video which includes footage of my poor fingers from shortly after I slipped with the knife to just a few days ago. Beware though, if you did not like the images in the previous post linked in the beginning, you wont like the video. It contains blood and open wounds, so if that does not suit you, do not click play!
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They should post that with a warning on boxes of new knives. I just cut my index finger almost two weeks ago. They removed the stitches, and then glued it shut again. I cut a flap, across rather than down, like yours. I’ve taken enough Advil to be considered in danger of becoming an addict! They say it will take a month to heal. I’m glad you posted your video. Although it made my nauseous, and caused me to flinch, I was happy to see that your skin (and mine) will look well again. I hope you will get feeling back in your finger. That really sucks. A good neurologist/physical therapist combo might help you get near that goal. God bless!
Thank you for your concern! It was my initial fear as well that I would be left with some kind of horrible, deep scars on my fingers, but now they are hardly visible in dim light. As for nerve damage, the doctors said it could take 6 months two 2 years for them to heal, or if I am unlucky, they will never be healed. Currently I am quite used to how my fingers feel, but the areas around the cuts are still extra sensitive as the cut nerves causes jolts. Accept my well wishing for your own healing process, both physical and mental.
Hi Andreas! Thanks for your finger cut video, nicely done and helpful. About 2 months ago I had a table saw accident and cut the middle 3 fingers of my right hand, about 1/3 deep across (luckily I did not cut them al the way, thanks God!). The fingers are all healed now but my problem is the numbness of my fingers above the the cut area. I must have cut the nerve opn the right sides of the fingers.
My question is how are your fingers feeling now? Did you have the same numbness feelings? Is it back to normal now or do you still have the same problem? If it is well now, how long did it take to return to normal feeling? Thanks/eufronio
Hello Pons! Sorry to hear about your fingers, good thing you did not cut them off entirely! Tendons ok? People told me that it would have been so much worst if I had cut my tendons, gives me shivers down my spine when I think about it.
As for my fingers, I have actually planned to make a followup post about my accident at the one year anniversary, in October, but for you I will describe the current state of my fingers right here!
Both my fingers are still numb, from the cuts all the way to the tip. Maybe a little less numb than before, but not so much different.
I still get jolts of pain if I get pressure directly on the cut scars, mostly when I grab thin metal things like cutlery and handles. It causes me to flinch, but it is only there as long as the pressure is.
The doctor told me that nerve damage could heal in a year or two, or never. As I have not experienced any real improvement in almost a year I am suspecting my fingers will stay like this for a long time, which is something I have come to terms with.
Hello Andreas! Thanks for your reply. I guess, just like you, I should be ready to “come to terms with” for the eventuality that my fingers will not go back to normal again, or maybe just pray that they get healed even if it takes a year or two. I wish both of us luck!
Thank you! Actually praying is probably a good idea, even if we have awesome physical bodies they cannot heal everything on their own! Cheers :)
i cut my left index finger on a band saw at school. thank god it didn’t hit the bone but i still had to get stitch. it sucks cause it senior year and i cant catch a basketball yet. i tried to practice but pulled a stitch. i can relate to not having feeling in your finger. nice video.
Pulling stitches hurts quite a lot! At least it did for me! Or perhaps it was the skin breaking open or something… in any case, I hope you healed alright :)