Trigger Finger

Symptoms

  • Your finger/thumb catches as you try to straighten it
  • Your finger/thumb catches and won’t straighten until you push it back
  • Your finger/thumb catches in a flexed/bent position and you can no longer push it back without pain/at all
Trigger finger diagram
About Ann McKenna Image

Surgery

  • Maybe none and a splint if it has happened in the last few weeks
  • A simple steroid injection if it has happened more than a few weeks
  • Dividing the Pulley that the swollen tendon glides under, under local anaesthetic if it has persisted more than a few months despite conservative management

After Care

  • No exercise for 48 hours
  • Leave your dressings dry and intact until you return to clinic
  • If you shower keep the hand and arm above the level of the shoulder out of the stream of water
  • Take simple over the counter pain relief like Paracetamol or Nurofen for 48 hours or more for any discomfort
  • No driving until you are seen in clinic
Different types of Sutures and Stitches Diagram