Back in November I hurt my left thumb. It got really swollen like the picture below. I ended up needing to have surgery on it to remove a chunk of cartilage. Turns out, my thumb was infected so it was a good thing I opted to have the surgery.
This is what my thumb looked like after surgery. I didn't think it would ever look the same! the big worm like thing was my incision, and it took 6 stitches to piece it back together.
This is what my thumb looks like 5 weeks after surgery. The incision is still raised up, but not nearly as far. The scar hurts so bad! I think it is just because it is brand new skin. Whenever it touches hot or cold water it burns so bad. It also turns purple when i go outside in the cold. I still can't straighten my thumb all the way because the scar makes my skin too tight, and I have some nerve damage which makes the tip and the side of my thumb feel like it is asleep. The dr said he thought that would go away after time. I hope so! I still don't use my thumb as much as I should, I have really gotten in the habit of not using it. I think eventually everything will go back to 100% normal, I would say right now I'm at 60%. I'm still glad I had the surgery, I don't want to know what would have happened if I would have left that infection in my thumb for too long!