Letters to the Editor

Treatment of Subungual Hematoma

Am Fam Physician. 2002 May 15;65(10):1997.

to the editor: The article “Fingertip Injuries”1 suggests that the appropriate treatment of a subungual hematoma with a distal tuft fracture is decompression with “two to three weeks of splinting.” I was taught not to open the subungual hematoma in the presence of a fracture because this would convert a simple closed fracture to an open fracture and thus complicate management. I was also instructed by an orthopedist that, in his opinion, such management was tantamount to malpractice. Was I instructed incorrectly?

Send letters to Kenneth W. Lin, MD, Associate Deputy Editor for AFP Online, e-mail: afplet@aafp.org, or 11400 Tomahawk Creek Pkwy., Leawood, KS 66211-2680.

Please include your complete address, e-mail address, telephone number, and fax number. Letters should be fewer than 500 words and limited to six references, one table or figure, and three authors.

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