Which term is used to describe an abscessed finger?

A felon is a fingertip abscess deep in the palm side of the finger. Felon comes from the Old French, derived from the Latin root 'fel', literally meaning "bile" and referring to the toxic content of the abscess. A felon causes extreme pain at the fingertip, especially when pressure is applied to the fingerprint surface. The end of the finger swells, and it is warm and painful to the touch.

It is important to get treatment quickly for these small abscesses. If the bacteria pocket continues to expand, it can compress blood vessels in the finger and cut off the fingertip's circulation, causing permanent damage to the finger.

Also, an untreated felon can spread its infection to the bone within the finger. This can lead to a more serious infection, which takes much longer to cure. Like other types of infections, felons sometimes begin after the finger is punctured by a wood splinter or repeated trauma to the fingertip through repetitive typing on a keyboard.

Felons almost always need to be opened and drained by a physician before they can heal. Most clear up within days to weeks. Healing may be faster with aggressive treatment.

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9 Comments

Cheryl Perkins

I have never heard of that before. I didn't know it had a name.

Nicholas Miernicki

I had on of those about 10 years ago caused by bit of splinter I couldn't get out. The splinter was in the finger for about 9 months without any problems and then one day my finger tip begins to swell. I went to the immediate care and the doctor examined it and said he would have to take it out by opening my finger tip up. I said go ahead and he stood up to get what he would need and turned around and reiterated "I going to have to cut your finger open". Once again, I said I understand that and to go ahead. The worse part, the lidocaine or whatever they use. He injected what I thought was quite a bit and after a few minute I realized that it might numb the pain nerves, but, the pressure nerves are wide awake. I was afraid that the tip of my finger felt like it was going to explode. I watched as he opened my finger tip up and was mortified by the itty-bitty piece of wood that he took out. He bandaged it up and told me not to use my right had for anything for a week or so. He did not call it a felon. The benefit of this was that it was right before Christmas, so I didn't have to wrap any of my presents (my wrapping is very bad, I will give my wife a present and she will acted surprised and examine the gift and say with a smirk, "And you wrapped it yourself!") .