No fewer than 3 times has this Medgadgeteer found himself in need of a nail trephination – poking a hole through a smashed finger- or toenail to relieve a subungal hematoma (swelling under the nail due to bleeding). In the sprit of DIY, a lighter-heated metal paperclip was used to create the necessary drainage conduit (that sizzle is unforgettable). However, it appears a better way may be on the horizon: the Pathformer from Path Scientific drills micro-holes to a specified depth for said nail trephination as well as punctures skin for biopotential measurements and drug delivery…
Mesoscissioning technology creates a microconduit in skin or nail within a specified depth range. The scissioning tool continually measures the resistance with reference to a skin electrode. This ensures the halting of the procedure when the lowering resistance reaches a preset value.
Fully open pathways can be painlessly scized (cut) through the stratum corneum of the skin or the nail. Microconduits, 300-500 microns in diameter, are produced within seconds and without sensation. These pathways can be used for delivery of any drug molecule across the skin or nail. These can also be used to treat subungual hematoma (black toe). Microconduits permit access for subdermal analyte extraction and reduce the skin electrical impedance to less than one thousand ohms for biopotential measurements.
The Pathformer was recently implemented in a clinical study for nail trephination.
More from Path Scientific (who could really use a new web-designer)