Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Ack! Nail problems!!!

I accidentaly tore off small part of my nail (second finger, right hand) that covers the "cuticle (is that what it is called?). So now, when it gets touched a certain way, it really hurts! Does anyone have any advice as to what I can do to keep it from hurting while playing?

Morphine?


But really, play very lightly, not for very long, and wrap the nail that got torn with some sort of bandage. That ought to help.
But really, just don't play to hard until it heals up nicely, you wouldn't want to make the healing process take longer or permanently damage your fingers.
I'd also imagine making sure you play more with the point rather than flat fingered may help reduce pain.

I don't know if they still make this stuff but it' like a liquid band-aid. I used it before b/c I used to get really bad/painful cuts around my fingers in the winter. It's clear and forms kind a hard seal over the cut. Sorry but I don't remember what it's called so you might have to do a little research on that or ask a pharmacist...

I just use super glue..

Just wrap it up and practice lightly. I had to play my freshmen jury with a band-aid on my left fourth finger-a few weeks prior, I badly sliced open the pad of the finger. By the time the jury came around, my finger had more or less healed, but I still decided to play with the band-aid as I had now gotten used to the sensation of it being there!

YIPES!! I hate that.

I'd wrap it up and take it easy till it heals. Superglue might work if you really need to be able to use it at more or less full capability.

Ditto; smells godawful, though.

your just going to have to wait until it grows back, i do it all the time, but i think my fingers are used to it by now

Zac

For safety reasons, I'd use one of the medical glues made for the purpose instead of superglue. Google "liquid bandage" and you'll see various links that can help find brands and names. Although the basic stuff may be chemically similar, I think the medical version breaks down differently and in a less toxic way.

I didn't know super-glue was toxic! Wow, y'all would use that stuff just to keep playing? What I've doen today was just practice w/ left hand only, but I'll look into that medical superglue.

When I sliced off part the pad of my third finger RH, I just didn't play on it, and instead used some weird fingerings to get around it. Needless to say, I had to stay away from harder music until it healed, but I had no real problems with easier stuff.

I've used super glue for all kinds of cuts ... always worked and never had a problem ... maybe i'm a mutant now

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5GwX-IuACEc

(sorry)

From what I have read, lots and lots of people have used regular superglue without any apparent problems. But the medical stuff should be safer, anyway, and I figure since it's available, why not use it instead?

The liquid bandage stuff I've tried before and unfortunately didn't work nearly as well as superglue; smells even worse, to boot.

A doctor (MD, not piano) friend told me that superglue has basically the same molecular structure as its medicinal counterpart. If used in the same dosage, there should be no problems.

Seal away!

So superglue is safe to apply not just to the skin, but to breaks in the skin like cuts? If the ingredients are the same as in the so-called liquid bandage, it must be okay even if it seems contrary to common sense to me.

As some here have suggested, my own preference would be to wrap it—but with something very specific: surgical tape like 3M's Micropore. It's made out of paper, is very thin and the adhesive is strong. It forms a tight bond with the skin that's relatively durable and flexible, and is so unobtrusive that you're hardly aware of it.

Steven

That's what I read, too - that the molecular structure is basically the same. But not exactly the same, which accounts for the different toxicity level. I am guessing that is why a slightly different version for medical use was developed. Of course, the development might have be driven by purely by profit motive, too.