Well, went to my primary doctor two days ago and he put me on augmentin (antibiotic) 1000 mg. He had me get it exrayed to make sure there were no foreign objects inside. There was none. So now I am sitting back to see if this antibiotic will work. The finger still is bad. I cannot even bend it now due to being so built up with fluid. I am still not happy and wished he would have had me sent to a hand surgeon to have it taken care of. No wonder people get sick all the time, due to docs playing around. Thanks for your comment. Jan

Hey, I don't think that that you need to see a hand surgeon. Without culturing the wound, the doctor would not necessarily have been able to tell which broad-spectrum antibiotic would have been successful. Obviously, he selected one that was not as affective as you or he had hoped. Augmentin is a good antibiotic and you should get some postive results. Did he/she give you any instructions about keeping the wound clean, ie using peroxide, changing the dressing and using an antibiotic ointment? Keep us posted.

By my calculations, you have been on the Augmentin for 4-5 days now. Did he give you an order for ten days? I am really not trying to alarm you, nor am I trying to second-guess your doctor, but it does concern me that this wound continues to be red and irritating much less the anxiety that it's causing you. By and large, most doctors will start you on something that is broad spectrum without it being a heavy-duty antibiotic because health care personnel are seeing greater resistance to antibiotics in the long run. I agree, I think you need to be safer than sorrier. It might take ten days to resolve but a trip to the ER may be of value. And, if it is a ten day regimen, then you have another five days to see what happens. Continue to monitor the wound. Have you ever had any problems before like this?