Is it possible to kill the end of your finger?

I think it's possible to kill the nerves? IANAD

I chopped the end of my thumb off years ago whilst cooking for friends. I was busy so superglued it back together but it's always been a bit numb since.

I did similar over ten years ago. Still no feeling, sorry no help!

Sounds like nerve damage.

The nerves can reconnect and repair themselves but it can take years.

I had similar after a big off and my eye shields cut into my face down to the bone.

Part of my top lip was numb, it has gradually returned over the years but even now, more than 10 years later, it's not 100%.

I crushed the end of my middle finger in some gym equipment 20+ years ago - burst it open like a sausage. there's only a very feint scar but I have practically no feeling in the fingertip

not been back inside a gym since - no good can come of it

gobuchul
Free Member

Sounds like nerve damage.

The nerves can reconnect and repair themselves but it can take years.

I had similar after a big off and my eye shields cut into my face down to the bone.

Part of my top lip was numb, it has gradually returned over the years but even now, more than 10 years later, it’s not 100%.

Yeah I cut my little finger from the knuckle right round to the palm in a bike crash. Had zero feeling in that finger for a few years, then one day i noticed i could feel it again! It's probably 75% back now.

I took the end off an index finger, at an angle from under the nail diagonally back to about 1/2 way to the first knuckle, so basically the entire pad, and only thing held it on was a small flap of skin. Resulted in 26 stitches.

Obviously i went though any nerves in it and for a while it was a bit numb, but thats not a problem now and i have full feeling in it. Nips a bit in winter, but thats all.

Similarly, I once gave myself the mutha of an electric shock trying to fix an old HiFi amp with more enthusiasm than knowledge. There seems to be a little hard bit of perhaps, burnt matter in the end of my finger. Only notice it if I pick up a guitar.

The nerve itself can die off, but as long as there's minimal scarring, it can track back along the myelin sheath and regrow. That's not to say it *will* - and the more scarring there is the less likely it is to do so. Under ideal conditions peripheral nerves regrow at about the same speed as your fingernails, so it might take a while!

I cut my finger quite deep ramming a table knife into plasic food packet that I couldn't get open.
Knife slipped and ouch!

I now have a numb patch about an inch long between the first and second knuckles on one side of the finger.

This was about 8 months ago so I dunno how much chance there is of it improving.

My right pectoral is numb since spearing myself in my MTB handlebar in Greece 20 years ago. Top of thumb from frostbite.

Dropped a 2x3 flagstone on the end of my ring finger many years ago. It still feels 'tingly' to this day - can feel with it but there is a constant pins and needles in the last cm.

I crashed my motorbike once and now I can't feel the end of my little finger.

So yes, in answer to your question.

Conversely I chopped the end of my thumb off at the first knuckle 4 years ago and can still feel the tip that isn't there..... And what is there has sensation in the wrong place.

Nips a bit in winter, but thats all.

I can feel mine all year round, in winter they're like Scammell wheelnuts.

I dropped a stone on my finger 2 years ago, had a leather glove on so didn't take it off for a while to inspect damage. Was numb for about a month then feeling returned, all back to normal now. Just the tip, sort of half way up nail onwards.

Update:

A month since I did it.

Feels like I have been snowball fighting with a finger missing from one of my gloves. Hope it sorts itself out, because at the moment it is pissing me off.

Feels like I have been snowball fighting with a finger missing from one of my gloves. Hope it sorts itself out, because at the moment it is pissing me off.

As I said above, it can take years, if at all. Just ignore it!

I sliced a bit of the pad off my index finger about 18 months ago - its still a bit numb but the feeling is coming back.
As others have said - it can, and probably will take months if not years.

I tried archery while on holiday. Really enjoyed it, but realised after the session that I couldn't feel the end of my middle finger, which I'd been using to hold back the string.
I realised, when I still couldn't feel it the next day, that I'd probably damaged the nerve.
It took around three months to restore normal feeling to the tip of that finger. Very odd.

Cut my thumb deep early this year took ~ 6 weeks to get any level of feeling back. Been better for about a month or so now

Had some finger/hand nerve damage about 10 years ago, it's 90% recovered but I still drop small things a lot more than I used to. Always those one-off bolts or small parts.

Yep. At some point in my teens, so 45 ish years ago, I cut across the top of middle finger and it always seemed a bit less sensitive after that. Then in the 80's I froze it winter climbing as it matched the hole in my Dachsteins. (wasn't even a good climb. North Gully on Tryfan but by heck it was cold) ad then last year I trapped it in a sort of shearing action betwen a dumper track body and a log to to be lifting sensibly. It's proper numb now and is very cold and painful when riding the bike.

I did something similar years ago. Managed to get my fingers trapped between a ships mooring line and a bollard as the ship put many tons of tension on the line. All the fingers were in a right mess and, TBH, I am damn lucky I still have them at all. Various ripped out finger nails, burst sausage impressions, swollen knuckles and scarring, and pain, lots of pain.

Doctor said everything was soft tissue damage and finger bones are pretty resilient to crush injuries as they are super tough. The only one he didn't like was the end of my little finger, as that bone can split and die.

Everything healed up, my right index finger is now fatter than the left, and he only lasting damage is that little finger, still numb 18 years later.

Peripheral nerves will mostly likely grow back gradually, you won't notice directly but may one day think "hmmm, that feels a bit better than I remember".

I had a numb bit of shin 8 months ago, googling suggested all sorts of terrible possibilities and advised me to rush to a doctor, but it has slowly improved. Not quite sure what caused it, an uncomfortable flight may have been a factor (sciatica etc) but falling solidly on my hip when MTBing seems more likely. I'm pretty sure it's not MS anyway 🙂

I tried archery while on holiday. Really enjoyed it, but realised after the session that I couldn’t feel the end of my middle finger, which I’d been using to hold back the string.

That’s why archers use a thick leather finger tab to pull the string back, because you use three fingers, one above the nock and two below, plus you should wear a bracer around your wrist otherwise the string can practically rip the skin off, or at least give you the mother of all ‘Chinese burns’!
When I did archery at school, I wore a three-fingered glove with very thick leather fingertips, it was much easier than the traditional tab.

Which has got me thinking, that maybe now I’ve got time to take up archery again. I’ve still got my bow and arrows, but I’m pretty sure that if I tried using it now, I’d snap the bow in two! It might be handy for a youngster to use, though.

That’s why archers use a thick leather finger tab to pull the string back, because you use three fingers, one above the nock and two below

I assumed that the poster was shooting with three fingers and hurt one of them. Shooting with one finger would be... well.

plus you should wear a bracer around your wrist otherwise the string can practically rip the skin off, or at least give you the mother of all ‘Chinese burns’!

I have a theory, developed after I last shot, that this is a technique issue.

Which has got me thinking, that maybe now I’ve got time to take up archery again. I’ve still got my bow and arrows,

Where are you geographically? I've been thinking that for about 20 years.