Alright, bear with me on this one. This is gonna sound a little crazy, but in the name of SCIENCE! I inflicted myself with both of these bloody wounds.
The act of slicing myself open was a difficult task alone. To will myself to self-mutilation does not come easily. However, as I said, this is in the name of SCIENCE!
The purpose of this post was to conduct an experiment in which the progress of two similar cuts were observed and recorded. The only difference between the two wounds was that one finger was treated with a Band-Aid, while the other was left exposed to the elements.
Each morning and each night I washed both wounds, dressed the middle finger, but gave the index finger no further care. I also took the time to document anything and everything as the healing progressed. The experiment had interesting results. Here are some of the journal entries from the week and a half(Beginning from April 20th) that it took both fingers to completely heal:
April 21st 11:43a.m.:
“Finger without Band-Aid still stings, skin is still visibly separated. The middle finger(Band-Aid finger) looks smooth and is healing noticeably better than index(non-Band-Aid) finger. I am starting to use the middle finger to complete tasks in place of index because of pain and threat of germs. I am wishing I had put the Band-Aid on my index finger rather than the middle.”
April 21st 10:40p.m.:
“Did a lot of work on my bike today. Exposed finger was subject to lots of chemicals, grease, dirt oil, and even some paint. The exposed index finger also continued to hurt all day. In comparison the Bandaged finger was pain free and safe all day. However, when I pulled the Band-Aid off, the cut surprisingly split back open and bled everywhere.”
April 22nd 8:45a.m.:
“Middle finger looks closed after splitting open last nite. There is no pain in this finger and it is much cleaner and nicer looking than the index finger. The index finger is still sensitive and “stingy”, skin looks seperated with little flaps and is visibly dirty.”
April 26th 9:50p.m.:
“The bandaged finger is separated, skin can be pushed apart easily by applying minimal pressure to the finger. Surprisingly, although  the un-bandaged finger looks rough, skin can not separate.”
April 29th 11:47p.m.:
“Despite my doubts, the bandaged finger is now fully healed while the un-bandaged finger is still scarred. I told my mom about my astonishment after the bandaged finger cut separated and she informed me that this was because the bandaged finger was healing properly (i.e. from the inside out), while the exposed finger was attempting to connect the surface layer of skin. I guess that makes sense. She also informed me never to experiment like this again.”
lacercreations 