It occurs as a result of blows to the most extreme joint of the finger. The tendon (extensor tendon) is injured where it is attached to the base of distal phalanx. It is mostly observed after closed injuries that no cut is present on the finger.
When the patient was told to straighten the finger, he/she can not do this. But the finger can be brought to the straight position by the other hand or by the doctor.(Figure 1)
In some cases, a small bone fracture is accompanied an seen by Xray (Figure 2)
Early cold application and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs will be beneficial for pain relief. (Figure 3).
In patients who do not have bone fractures, a mallet finger splint obtained from ortopaedic material dealer can be worm without removing it from the finger for 2 months.
Surgical intervention is required in patients who have open injuries and or mallet injuries with fracture. This intervention is performed by local anesthesia. The broken bone fragment is reduced and the injured tendon is repaired. A farthest two knots of the finger is held flat for approximately two months by placing a wire and the patient is not allowed to bend his finger during this time. Some of the patients do not consult to a specialist doctor because they think that they have only visual problems. However, some of the untreated cases can be transformed into a more advanced movement problem that we call swan neck deformity. For this reason, it is very important to get the information about the treatment process by the experts of this subject and to make the recovery process in their follow-up.
