rubber band on finger

[the guy]

hey folks, i've started writing this story (granted, its quite likely that i won't get round to finishing it because i'm like that but hey) and basically there's a character who is stuck in the wilderness with not much on him and a cut on his little 'pinky' finger gets infected and he has to cut it off.

i've been thinking about different ways that he could cut it off and i remembered that farmers use rubber bands to cut lambs tails off and i thought maybe he could have a rubber band in his pocket or something.

i was just wondering how long it would take for a little finger to drop off if the rubber band was tight enough and if it would be painful and what kind of wound it would leave?

[Mokele]

The tighter, the quicker it drops off, but it could take hours or days.

 

However, this will not solve the issue. Instead, it will create a huge mass of necrotic tissue which will procede to allow infection and damaging decay byproducts into his bloodstream.

 

I pretty much guarantee that using a rubber band will make things worse, not better. He'd be better off cutting his finger off and burning the stump closed.

[tomgwyther]

I'd go with the cutting off option too, rather than the rubber band.

You story reminds me of a true story I heard a few years ago, where by a rock climber had to amputate his own hand with a small swiss-army knife.

 

the link to the news article is below

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0830_040830_aronralston.html

[insane_alien]

you could probably use the rubberband to stem the bleeding an cause a numbing effect before you cut it off.

[the guy]

ok, thankyou for your answers, i'll go for the cutting off but using the rubber band to stop bleeding.

also, if this would cause infection, then does anyone know why farmers use it on lambs tails? because the whole purpose for cutting it off in the first place is to stop it getting infected.