UKC

I spiked the back of my hand on a nail or screw through a piece of wood, and around the little hole which was left, it started to rise up like a growing bruise (have had similar happen on my wrist after having a blood sample taken once before), until I pressed it down again from not much liking to see a growing lump on the back of my hand.

It was a few days ago, and I've thought no more about it until when I've just looked at it, and noticed that the back of my hand has gone a bruised or 'deep tan' kind of colour in the space between my wrist and knuckles on the back of my hand.

If it spreads I'm going to the walk in centre, but has anybody done similar and had the same result with it being nothing to be concerned about?

Many thanks.

In reply to Timmd:

Are you up to date on Tetanus jabs ?

I think perhaps you should go to the walk in centre for a Doc to have a look at it.

In reply to IPPurewater:
I am and I have done, and it is just bruised.

Weird to have had the bruising spread as far as my wrist and knuckles, handy to know the difference between bruising and infection now at least.

It would have been pulsing and swollen and red with it's own heart beat if it'd been infected apparently.

In reply to Timmd:
Twice now had infected cuts, now I draw around the area of redness and monitor if it is spreading. If it is get to the Doctor! I ended up staying in hospital after ignoring it the first time, and a colleague of my wife has a true horror story of an infection, nearly resulting in his death.

In reply to RX-78:
That's a good idea to draw around the area. My bony bits are a good marker for this one. Having hairs and freckles helps towards keeping track of things.

In reply to Timmd:

Could it be you're developing superpowers after your freak accident and these are the initial symptoms? "Tim Oakheart" for a superhero name?

In reply to RX-78:
My infected finger from dropping a stone brick onto the nail was lucky because I went to the docs about something else and he spotted my finger and prescribed some antibiotics for me.

I try and encourage a bit of bleeding from cuts to hopefully wash out anything I don't want to stay there from inside of them.

From liking to do things with my hand a lot, I seem to have gradually got a feel for how long cuts should take to heal on my hands and fingers, and what the difference between a cut with something still in it and one that's clean is. I will make a cut bleed again if it doesn't feel quite right and they tend to heal shortly after, or so far they have done. I've noticed there seems to be a different sensation around the cut, that there's something I can sense that's absent with a clean one. It's hard to put into words but it's noticeable. A very mildly painful itch?

In reply to Timmd:

You broke a blood vessel near the surface of the skin. That caused the bump under the skin. The resulting blood has now spread out under the skin, and has discoloured your hand. Unless it's hot and red, I'd suggest it's not infected.

In reply to captain paranoia:

So that's what makes the lump. Do you know what would happen if you didn't press it down again? It's such a perturbing sight, I always do.

In reply to Timmd:

I had a similar experience after shooting into my hand with a nail gun... I've since given up carpentry...

In reply to Timmd:

Its nothing to worry about. You're probably going to die that's all.

In reply to Dave Perry:
It's one of those things where with being an uncle it's good to know what something 'isn't' as well as what it is, so if any of them spike a blood vessel and have a rising lump, I can set their mind at rest and tell them it'll be fine, or tell them it's infected if their parent misses that it is in the early stages.

I'm 37 and find the rising lump pretty alarming even if it's harmless, it just feels wrong to see, for a child it'd be terrifying.

There's multiple motives behind my asking...

In reply to Timmd:

I used to know how long cuts would roughly take to heal, but as I am getting older they seem to take forever now, little cuts and bruises from climbing hang around for weeks, on my children similar injuries seem to go almost overnight!

In reply to RX-78:
That's annoying! Perhaps you just need to extend your rule of thumb? No pun intended.

It's the 'skin tingle' I find which tells me if it's got a bit of dirt still in it, stopping it from healing. Clean cuts tend to have no sensation to them (other than normal) while they're healing. There's definitely a difference in sensation I notice for cuts that are taking a while to heal.

Could it be cellulitis? http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Cellulitis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

If so, it can be really serious. A friend had it from a thorn in the garden. When she went to A&E she was told she would have been dead within hours if she hadn't gone when she did.

In reply to Timmd:

Applying pressure to a bleed is a classic first aid treatment. It stops the blood flow, and allows clotting to take place, to stem the bleed.

So pressing on the lump is probably a good idea, and ought to reduce the bleeding and subsequent discolouration.

Backs of the hands have quite a lot of large, prominent, surface blood vessels that are pretty vulnerable to getting bashed, where the skin isn't broken, but the blood vessel is. I've done it with a vessel on the palm knuckle of my index finger a couple of times.

In reply to Timmd:

Get your blood clotting checked.

In reply to Removed UserDeleted bagger:

No reason to do so at all and vanishingly unlikely to be either abnormal or indeed relevant, I'm afraid.

The blood has leaked out of a damaged blood vessel (as CP says) and initially formed a large valises haematoma. Pressing on it disperses the clot into almost no the tissue layers, hence the spread of the discolouration. If infected you will know as it will be throbbing red and very painful; and you will likely feel absolutely awful.

Simple haematomas turn all sorts of interesting colours as they resolve. I fell off the middle tier at Eglwyseg a few years ago and cunningly landed on my backside. I had an arse like a David Attenborough baboon for several weeks - the green/purple phase was particularly fetching, I'm told...

B

In reply to ben b:

You're spot on.