Background: Several studies have compared surgical and conservative methods for the treatment of fingertip injuries. However, there are few studies on the effect of phenytoin dressing and its efficiency in treating the fingertips compared to other common treatments. The aim of this study was to compare phenytoin dressing, surgical treatment with VY flap technique and conservative treatment with Vaseline in patients afflicted with fingertip injuries.
Methods: This prospective cohort research was conducted on all patients referred to the Emergency Department of Gorgan Hospital during 2016-17 who suffered from fingertip injuries. The eligible patients were selected for further intervention and follow up and were divided into three groups including phenytoin dressing, surgical treatment with VY flap technique and Vaseline conservative treatment. The collected Data was analyzed using Chi-squared test and independent sample t-test and the significance level was considered below 0.05.
Results: After 12 months, subjective, objective, and cosmetic complaints were evaluated based on the Allen Impairment Scale. According to the statistical evaluations, no significant difference was found between the three groups in subjective, objective, and cosmetic complaints after one year (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The results of this study for the first time showed that phenytoin dressing has a similar effect to Vaseline dressing for the treatment of fingertip injuries and is not superior to it. Furthermore, the findings of this study, in agreement with previous studies, showed that clinical results are similar to conservative and surgical treatments and are not superior to each other.