CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Plast Surg 2022; 55(03): 307-310
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1744455
Case Report

Parachute Method: A Novel Method to Retrieve a Stuck Degloved Finger

Madhu Periasamy
Department of Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Microsurgery, Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
,
Kumanan Asokan
Department of Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Microsurgery, Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
,
Monusha Mohan
Department of Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Microsurgery, Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
,
Vamseedharan Muthukumar
Department of Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Microsurgery, Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
,
Hari Venkatramani
Department of Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Microsurgery, Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
,
S. Raja Sabapathy
Department of Plastic, Hand and Reconstructive Microsurgery, Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
› Author Affiliations

Abstract

An entrapped finger is a relatively uncommon domestic injury. When the finger gets stuck proximal to the proximal interphalangeal joint, the resultant distal edema and inappropriate attempts at retrieval can result in circumferential degloving of the skin and injury to the neurovascular structures. We report a technique that can be used in such circumstances. Strategically placed skin sutures are used to get the skin through the constricting ring, and retrieval is aided by a cut finger glove that wraps the finger and can be lubricated. This non-cutting technique is named as the parachute technique since the withdrawn skin sutures look like the strings of the parachute. This technique is valuable when the finger gets stuck in an idli plate, a common South Indian kitchen utensil, where there is difficulty of access to cutting equipment and where inappropriate attempts at retrieval can result in skin injury making further attempts more difficult.

Supplementary Material



Publication History

Article published online:
31 October 2022

© 2022. Association of Plastic Surgeons of India. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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