A bandage applied to an infant’s thumb to discourage him from sucking the appendage worked too well when it led to an unusual case of tourniquet syndrome and thumb autoamputation, doctors report.

The 12-month-old reported to Children’s Health Ireland in Dublin with ischaemic necrosis of the distal phalanx of the left thumb.

Six days earlier, an adhesive bandage had been applied to his thumb to stop him sucking it, the doctors wrote in BMJ Case Reports.

His mother reported he had been crying and irritable, and when she removed the bandage 48 hours later, she noticed the thumb was shrivelled and mottled.