Nerve regrowth after damage

[DaveC426913]

TL;DR

Can I expect feeling to return in my thumb after puncture damage?

I put a #2 Robertson bit through my thumbnail about a month ago*. After a week or so, it was still hurting, so I went in after the (perfectly square) piece of thumbnail that had been rammed into the nail bed**.

*trying to drill 4" deck screws into hardwood without a pilot hole tends to make a power drill wobbly
** I'm a popaholic, so is was in my wheelhouse - and my toolkit.

I've kept it bandaged - mostly so that I don't catch the ragged hole on anything, and bleed all over everything (again). It's healing up nicely now, so I've stopped bandaging it. Even the scab has gone, and nowe I just have a hole in my thumbnail with pink skin under it .

All the pain is gone, so it is only now that I am noticing that feeling has not returned to the tip of my thumb.

Ever heard of a phantom limb? Well I have a phantom bandage. My thumb feels exactly like there is still a bandage on it. When I touch things with my thumb tip it's as if I'm touching it through a bandage. (I suppose the same effect would be experienced if it were swollen and engorged with fluid, but again - no pain.)

So I am assuming this is nerve damage. Is this the kind of thing that can heal back?

 

[pinball1970]

I put a #2 Robertson bit through my thumbnail about a month ago*.

Ouch.

So I am assuming this is nerve damage. Is this the kind of thing that can heal back?

I would have said no but I would check this out.

https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/disea...rve palsies” can,allow for return of function.

 

[berkeman]

So I am assuming this is nerve damage. Is this the kind of thing that can heal back?

I've read somewhere lately that there is a pretty bad shortage of doctors in Canada now. Sorry that you are having to deal with that...

 

[jim mcnamara]

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem....-of-health/treating-repairing-nervous-system#:

Best answer: slow and incomplete return to recovering, still functioning tissue. This means size of wound forecasts "speed". smaller wounds generally reach whatatver end points faster.

 

[DaveC426913]

I've read somewhere lately that there is a pretty bad shortage of doctors in Canada now. Sorry that you are having to deal with that...

I guess...

I have a GP. Far as I know she's not going anywhere.

But beyond my personal sitch, yes, many people are finding it hard to sign up for a doc.

 

[phyzguy]

Best answer: slow and incomplete return to recovering, still functioning tissue. This means size of wound forecasts "speed". smaller wounds generally reach whatatver end points faster.

I agree with this. I have a couple of spots like this. Some feeling has returned, but very slowly. I am still noticing improvement years later.

 

[sophiecentaur]

I agree with this. I have a couple of spots like this. Some feeling has returned, but very slowly. I am still noticing improvement years later.

Sixty years ago I cut my palm on glass - just below the lowest knuckle joint of my little finger at the top, outer part. It was sutured by a grumpy A&E nurse. The outside edge of my little finger was totally numb but, over the past years it is getting more and more 'normally' sensitive. Being past my sell-by date, I am constantly pleased by this recuperation. The same finger got dislocated (first joint, sticking right up in the air) The feeling is still improving, despite that. I'm a Wolverine.

 

[H-Heisenberg]

Nerve re-growth speed of sensory nerves is approximately 1 mm/day + a 2 week initial delay when the body figures things out.

I once cut sensory nerves in my foot and had compromised feel from ankle to toes. This took a few years to recover.