Abstract
1. A series of 1,211 cases of infection of the hand and fingers is reviewed. Of the 1,066 which required operation about two-thirds were treated by excision and suture, and the results in these cases are analysed.
2. The criterion of success was per primam healing in seventeen days or less, and 54 per cent of the cases treated by this method (excluding paronychiae) fulfilled this criterion.
3. The causes of failure are discussed.
4. It is concluded that excision and suture is the method of choice in well localised infections, but that it should be avoided in diffuse infections and in some cases with sinuses. Its use is unnecessary in trivial infections.
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