Treatment of the Nail Bed Injury with Artificial Nail

The fingernail is essential to both the aesthetic and the functional excellence of a finger. Once deformity of the nail is established, it is infrequently amenable to satisfactory secondayr correction. Therefore, careful attention to injuries of the fingernails is strongly indicated. When the nail is completely destroyed in acute nail bed injuries, and during secondary reconstruction of the nail bed, the nail cannot be used as a splint. Because vaselin gauze or silicon sheet as a substitute has some disadvantages, artifitial nail (Nailene) was developed as an alternative. When it is sutured in place, the artificial nail provides a firm fixation for the nail bed and encourages minimal hematoma formation and nail adhesion. The artificial nail was used in 19 patients with 19 nail bed injures from January 1987 to December 1990 at the department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Choong Ang Gil General Hospital and good results were achieved.