June 30, 2006
Other
Question from Centre Hall,, Pennsylvania, USA:
My seven year old son had a hairline cut, resembling a paper cut, at the base of his thumbnail against his skin. It got sore and then got worse even though we cleaned it with peroxide and put Neosporin and Bacticin on it several times. Now, it is swollen and something is actually protruding out between his thumbnail and the skin. It almost looks like a second thumb nail or such is starting. It sticks out now about one-eighth of an inch. It is really strange looking. We took him to his pediatrician, but not his endocrinologist as we thought this is unrelated to his type 1. The pediatrician seemed little concerned and prescribed an antibiotic, first, a penicillin derivative (to which he was allergic), then, something else.
It has been about 10 days now (two days since he has been on the antibiotic) and although it hasn’t gotten worse, it hasn’t improved either. Do you have any suggestions? Is this something we should contact our endocrinologist about? I find it hard to believe it is diabetes related at all.
Answer:
Your endocrinologist is likely not going to be helpful. Your pediatrician, however, should be re-consulted about this problem. Most pediatricians would suggest that if a treatment is not working, or if additional treatment is necessary to solve a problem, you should probably get an additional appointment to review your concerns. This is not likely related to his diabetes.
MSB
