Children's Nail Bed Injuries : Study of the Efficacy of the Simple Relocation of Nail Plate

Plain-language summary

Nail bed injuries in children, most frequently under 3 years-old, result in crush injuries. The frequency is around 34 percent of the children hand injuries (Claudet et al, 2007). The empirical reparation technique is the nail bed suture and the relocation of the nail plate. However, some authors think that suture the nail bed could increase the traumatism of the nail bed because of the needle, the crush by the clamps and by the stitches too tight (Langlois, Yam). An author has proposed, in a prospective, randomized clinical trial to treat the nail bed injuries with a glue: the 2-octylcyanoacrylate, without suture of the nail bed. Advantages of this technique, claimed by the author, was time saving, with an aesthetical result as same as the treatment with suture of the nail bed. A same study validated the technique in a paediatric population (Langlois et al., 2010). So, it seems that it is not necessary to suture the nail bed. But, in our practice, the investigators noted complications not mentioned in previous studies: hematomas causing pain, effusion and dislocation of the nail plate, with constrain the patient to consult in emergency. The 2-octylcyanoacrylate is difficult to use in nail bed injuries and is expensive. Our hypothesis is the simple relocation of the nail plate in nail bed injuries in paediatric population is enough to have good to excellent aesthetical results, with less complications and a lower cost, than the other techniques. The aim of this study is to assess the aesthetical results 3 months after simple relocation of the nail plate for nail bed injuries in children.

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