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{{About|infection of the tip of the finger|infection at the side or base of the fingernail|Paronychia|other uses|Whitlow (disambiguation)}}{{short description|Infection of the fingertip}}(File:Infection of the pulp space of the thumb.jpg|right|thumb|An infection of the pulp space of the thumb, in 2012)A whitlow or felon is an infection of the tip of the finger.{{DorlandsDict|nine/000117333|whitlow}}BOOK, Fitzpatrick, Thomas B., Klauss Wolff, Wolff, Klaus Dieter, Johnson, Richard R., Suurmond, Dick, Richard Suurmond, Fitzpatrick's color atlas and synopsis of clinical dermatology, McGraw-Hill Medical Pub. Division, 2005, 0-07-144019-4, {{efn|The term whitlow derives from the Scandinavian whickflaw, combining a variant of quick (a sensitive spot) and flaw.BOOK, Walter William Skeat, A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language,weblink March 5, 2013, 1895, Harper & Bros., 560–, 2flaw and 2quick from WEB,weblink Free Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, March 5, 2013, Felon comes from the Old French, derived from the Latin root fel-, literally meaning "bile" and referring to the toxic content of the abscess.BOOK, Diab, Mohammad, Lexicon of Orthopaedic Etymology,weblink March 6, 2013, 1999, Taylor & Francis, 978-90-5702-597-6, 115, }} Herpetic whitlow and melanotic whitlow (subungual melanoma) are subtypes that are not synonymous with the term felon. A felon is an "extremely painful abscess on the palmar aspect of the fingertip".Dorland's Medical Dictionary: 29th Edition. Whitlow usually refers to herpetic whitlow, though it can also refer to melanotic whitlow (subungual melanoma),JOURNAL, Haneke E, Baran R, Longitudinal melanonychia, Dermatol Surg, 27, 6, 580–4, June 2001, 11442597, 10.1111/j.1524-4725.2001.01916.x, which somewhat resembles acral lentiginous melanoma. The terms whitlow and felon are also sometimes misapplied to paronychia, which is an infection of the tissue at the side or base of the nail. Felon presents with a throbbing pain, clinically.

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References

{{EB1911 poster|Whitlow}}{{Reflist}}{{Diseases of the skin and appendages by morphology}}{{Cutaneous infections}}{{Cutaneous-infection-stub}}