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Case Report Plastic and Aesthetic Research

High pressure paint gun injury of the index

finger: a case report

Memet Yazar , Zeliha Gül , Ali Can Günenç , Sevgi Kurt Yazar , Erol Kozanoğlu 3
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1 Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Clinic, Sisli Etfal Training and Research Hospital, 34371 Istanbul, Turkey.
2 Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Clinic, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, 34098 Istanbul, Turkey.
3 Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Clinic, Istanbul University, Istanbul Medicine Faculty, 34093 Istanbul, Turkey.
Address for correspondence: Dr. Memet Yazar, Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Clinic, Sisli Etfal Training and Research Hospital,
34371 Istanbul, Turkey. E-mail: memetyazar@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Injuries to the hand secondary to high pressure paint guns are considered to be true hand emergencies.
These rare injuries may have serious outcomes, and a critical step in their management is extensive
debridement performed within the first six hours following injury. For this reason, their diagnosis
should not be delayed, and the hand surgeon should be informed immediately to initiate appropriate
treatment. In this report, the authors describe a patient who was injured with a chemical paint gun, and
whose injury was not diagnosed in the emergency department. The patient subsequently developed
tenosynovitis. His treatment is reported herein.
Key words:
Finger injury, high pressure injury, trauma

INTRODUCTION In this study, the authors describe a patient who was
injured with a chemical paint gun, and whose injury was
Hand infections are emergencies of hand surgery that require not initially diagnosed in the emergency department.
prompt treatment. The hand is a unique part of the body as The patient developed pyogenic tenosynovitis, and his
it possesses fine compartments with vital structures. Hand treatment is reported here.
infections can accumulate within these compartments through
the tendon sheaths and lymphatics, elevating compartmental CASE REPORT
pressure and progressing to ischemia and necrosis. If the
infection spreads to surrounding vital structures, serious A 34‑year‑old man was referred to our emergency
functional deficits and even death may occur. [1‑3] department with the complaints of pain and swelling at
Generally, hand infections can develop following minor the distal phalangeal level of his left index finger. The
trauma such as foreign body penetration and lacerations. symptoms began after he was injured with a paint injection
In addition, human or animal bites, surgery and gun in a professional setting. The emergency department
intravenous lines may also be associated with infections physicians evaluated the patient and discharged him with
of the hand. [4,5] Although injuries due to high pressure prescriptions for oral antibiotics (cefazolin) and analgesics
injection devices mostly used in manufacturing systems after administration of tetanus prophylaxis. Although
are very rare, they necessitate acute treatment to prevent
potentially serious complications. [6] This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix,
tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited
Access this article online and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
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Website: For reprints contact: reprints@medknow.com
www.parjournal.net
How to cite this article: Yazar M, Gül Z, Günenç AC, Yazar SK,
Kozanoglu E. High pressure paint gun injury of the index finger: a case
DOI:
10.4103/2347-9264.169498 report. Plast Aesthet Res 2015;2:350-2.
Received: 19-04-2015; Accepted: 06-09-2015

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