Case of the month: The skin wrinkle test: a simple nerve injury test for paediatric and uncooperative patients.
Assessment of the distal neurological status after injuries to the hand and fingers is one of the most frequent parts of standard trauma practice. Two-point discrimination as clinical examination is often sufficient to identify such lesions, but difficulties occur in the comatose, young or otherwise uncooperative patient. This article describes a simple pain-free alternative method of assessing digital nerve integrity by submerging the finger tip in water and observing if wrinkles develop on the skin.
Tindall
A
A
Guy's Hospital, London, UK. alistair_tindall@hotmail.com
Dawood
R
R
Povlsen
B
B
D000328:Adult; D001336:Automobiles; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005383:Finger Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D005385:Fingers / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D059348:Peripheral Nerve Injuries; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000473:pathology; D015595:Skin Aging / Q000473:pathology