Some patients present at an advanced stage of their fingertip infection with an extension of the infection in anatomical spaces or into fragile structures. One hundred and twenty-five patients have been operated on for a finger infection. Forty-one patients (33%) have been treated at the “complication” stage, while 84 cases (67%) were considered “non-complicated”. The delay between initial injury and the surgical treatment was 12 days in the “non-complicated” group versus 30 in the “complication” group (p < 0.001). Osteitis (39% of the complications), and flexor sheath infection (37%) were the most frequent complications. Prescribing preoperative antibiotics increases the risk of being in the "complicated" group at p = 0.09. One hundred and thirteen patients (90.4%) were cured of their infection after a single operation. Neither the cause of infection, nor the type of germ or associated diabetes increased the risk of complication in our series. A better education of the first interveners (general practitioner or emergency doctor) in hand infection care could reduce the rate of complication allowing a faster access to hand surgeons.
Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

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