Has anyone had local anaesthetic in their hands?

[tan235]

Hi All!
I just went to the Dr as my finger was looking infected, an infected cuticle, it was red and sore.
The Dr looked at it and said 'I'm going to cut it open and drain out the pus and blood'- I wasn't expecting that but assumed she knew what she was doing- she put in needle for general anaesthetic, bloody painful and then she got a razor and sliced all along under my cuticle!
Is this standard procedure???
I was saying the whole time, 'are you sure this is necessary?'
She said it's better to do it now than once it's got the pus all in it. (there was no pus only bloody)
Now I'm sitting at home with a huge bandage on my thumb FREAKING OUT that she's made the infection worse by cutting it open and annoyed that she cut it open when everything I've read says 'in extreme cases the Dr will make an incision and drain" - she didn't make an incision she sliced it open!!!
Anyone else had this procedure?
It's nearly Xmas and I'm now sitting here wanting to just disappear so I don't have to deal with my Health Anxiety!!!

Thanks guys - love to hear your stories.
She did put antispetic on it etc so i'm hoping everything was sterile but seriously - why did she cut it open??
She's also given me erythromycin to take too....

[MyNameIsTerry]

She's cut it to drain out any infection and given you medication to resolve any remaining. It's exactly what they do with things like boils.

I had an infected thumb a few weeks ago. I had cut it and then was doing a load of gardening without any gloves. My thumb was twice the size and yellow. Then it burst and the pain went away as I squeezed out the pus over a day after bathing it in warm salt water several times a day. An old fashioned method of softening the skin to encourage it to burst.

That's what I think your doctor was doing. My mum said if I went to my GP they would get a needle in it to drain it off.

Infection & pus causes the pain and once that's gone it's much less painful.

Your doctor is trained to deal with it. She's trained to deal with a lot more if you think about it logically. In her training she's probably worked in A&E and performed all sorts of trauma procedures so I'm sure she can handle a basic infection.

If it doesn't clear up, just pop back down.

[tan235]

Thank you for answering, i guess my thing is that she said she was doing it as a precaution so it wouldn't get infected, so i guess that's a good thing?
In my mind it's much worse though as now I have a big razor wound on my bloody thumb to deal with over Xmas!
Salt bath washes I guess are the way to go and I'm taking antibiotics as well so that will kill everything :0

[tan235]

Did it keep them swollen for a while - this was 6 hours ago and I noticed it's still a bit swollen.
I got it in my thumb and my thumb is still a little bit swollen where the needle went in - I'm freaking out and doing my best NOT to go to ER.
The area it went in is a bit darker than the other thumb as well.
God damn it i wish i'd never gone to the Dr today!!

Thanks guys.

[inxi]

Sounds like it’s just inflammation from the needle. Perhaps you can try icing it and keeping it elevated. You can take some ibuprofen, which can help with swelling. If it doesn’t subside in a few days you can get it checked out at the doctors but I’m sure it’s nothing serious.

[ankietyjoe]

Alternatively, WHY did you have local anaesthetic in your hand? Did you have stitches, a small operation etc?

[Elen]

Logic would dictate that the swelling is also related to the infection.

Absolutely no need for ER