The main cause of hand infections is trauma, and good labour protection against trauma is fundamental to prevention. Once there is trauma, even skin abrasions, minor puncture wounds, etc. should be treated appropriately by cleaning the wound and then disinfecting and bandaging it. The affected finger should be seen as soon as it becomes symptomatic and treated as early as possible to try to control the infection early or to confine it to the superficial layers to avoid it developing or spreading to the deeper layers.
Any pre-existing nail infection or other causes of finger infection should be treated promptly with conservative treatment such as anti-inflammatory, braking and physiotherapy if it is in the inflammatory stage, or incision and drainage if an abscess has formed to avoid spreading the infection.