warning! Small open wounds below. Pardon any typos, I'm typing one handed as you'll see.
So this one is somewhat to educate, but mostly to ask a few questions of the medical types on the board. Back in 1991 after returning from DS/DS I had a stress fracture in my hand. After it had healed, there was a small bump at the bottom of my ring finger. Like most hard chargers, I ignored it thinking it was just a break healed badly. Fast forward 24 years of neglecting it and repeated reinjury and it looked like the following. Here's the warning. 1 in 4 people have a genetic predisposition for the condition, which is called Dupuytren's Contracture. If you see this:
It will eventually turn into this (if not treated)
That is my hand with the fingers flexed as far open as they would go. Basically, the bump is collagen that is building up on the tendon and causing the fingers to draw in. Here's a diagram of it:
Ultimately, that was my warning. If you see something similar to the first pic on yourself or one of your troops check to see if the hand will still lie flat on a table. If not, go see the orthopedic hand surgeon.
Now for my questions (and the ugly pics). Please, if you are not a doctor or SOF medic do not try to give me advice. I just had it treated on Wednesday via needle aponeurotomy
.
Today was the first time I took the bandage off. At first glance it appears to be fine to me. Here's a pic of it immediately after removing the original bandage:
I'm a little concerned that it feels slightly warm to me. Is that normal? I'm not worried about the tears, those make sense because he was stretching out the fingers and the skin had long since tightened in the area. I'm also assuming the bulge on the ring finger is just normal swelling.
Here's what it looked like after cleaning (water and saline solution). Do you see anything that would concern you? After cleaning I let it dry, used a Q-tip to apply neosporin inside and on the edges of the wound and then wrapped in guaze.
Last, Here's a pic of the worst wrapping job in history. Does anyone have any tricks for wrapping an awkward location like this? I don't have anyone to do it for me so I'm having to one-hand it. Basically I did something that looks like the yellow ribbon (deployed ribbon) around each of the two fingers with the tails coming down the back of my hand and then wrapped the two sets of tails around my palm and taped it. Does that sound right?
So this one is somewhat to educate, but mostly to ask a few questions of the medical types on the board. Back in 1991 after returning from DS/DS I had a stress fracture in my hand. After it had healed, there was a small bump at the bottom of my ring finger. Like most hard chargers, I ignored it thinking it was just a break healed badly. Fast forward 24 years of neglecting it and repeated reinjury and it looked like the following. Here's the warning. 1 in 4 people have a genetic predisposition for the condition, which is called Dupuytren's Contracture. If you see this:
It will eventually turn into this (if not treated)
That is my hand with the fingers flexed as far open as they would go. Basically, the bump is collagen that is building up on the tendon and causing the fingers to draw in. Here's a diagram of it:
Ultimately, that was my warning. If you see something similar to the first pic on yourself or one of your troops check to see if the hand will still lie flat on a table. If not, go see the orthopedic hand surgeon.
Now for my questions (and the ugly pics). Please, if you are not a doctor or SOF medic do not try to give me advice. I just had it treated on Wednesday via needle aponeurotomy
Today was the first time I took the bandage off. At first glance it appears to be fine to me. Here's a pic of it immediately after removing the original bandage:
I'm a little concerned that it feels slightly warm to me. Is that normal? I'm not worried about the tears, those make sense because he was stretching out the fingers and the skin had long since tightened in the area. I'm also assuming the bulge on the ring finger is just normal swelling.
Here's what it looked like after cleaning (water and saline solution). Do you see anything that would concern you? After cleaning I let it dry, used a Q-tip to apply neosporin inside and on the edges of the wound and then wrapped in guaze.
Last, Here's a pic of the worst wrapping job in history. Does anyone have any tricks for wrapping an awkward location like this? I don't have anyone to do it for me so I'm having to one-hand it. Basically I did something that looks like the yellow ribbon (deployed ribbon) around each of the two fingers with the tails coming down the back of my hand and then wrapped the two sets of tails around my palm and taped it. Does that sound right?
You see an ortho / infectious disease doc? 
?
I posted because I blew this thing off for 20 years just because it didn't hurt. I thought maybe someone else might recognize it in themselves and get it fixed before they go through what I have. (BTW, it makes pushups really hard to do, especially when it's in both hands)
:wall:
Now I'm gonna have to get out all of my tall jokes (even though I've only got hearsay to go by).
