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?
editor's note: This letter was sent to the authors of “Fingertip injuries,” who declined to reply.
