Anyone ever lose a toenail (the saga continues!)

[themarquis]

A while back, I posted about how I banged my toenail really good and half of it sort of turned purplish black (gross! Stop reading now if you are easily disgusted )

Well, the saga continues

Today I was fiddling with it and realized that the half of it that is STILL ( a month or two later?) black/purple is ready to fall right off. I can sort of lift it up a bit and it seems to come right off, like it's not attached to the nailbed any more (haha gross).

BUT ... this is the disturbing part ... the half of it that is the normal color is still attached and seems like it ain't going nowhere (it is half and half purple and normal, vertically)

So what is going to happen .... the dead part can't come off because it's still attached, so will a new nail start growing on top of it? Or will I have a half dead toenail for the rest of my life? Can I hack it off without hurting the healthy part (well, and myself and probably spouting blood ) Help!

 

[SAHDad]

Toenails are optional equipment. Right now, I am missing 4 or 5 of them (I forget); though in my case, they won't grow back until I stop running. Yu might lose the nail which is currently there, but another will eventually grow back; it just takes time.

(I'd offer more constructive advice on how to remove it, but I'd probably need a picture. You might want to consider have someone removing it, though mainly for your piece of mind.)

 

[Sabeking]

I lost 4 last October from running. On one of them the top half was dead but not the bottom half. I clipped as close as I could to the end of the purple part and let the other part remain. It has been 5 months and the the ones that totally came off are almost grown back. The partial just took off from where I had cut it. If you try to take off the part that looks like it is still living it can be pretty painful, I tried that with one because 3/4 of it was dead. I took the whole thing off and eventually it came back.

It is a weird process though. The nail bed hardens up and you will notice layers growing back over the nailbed till it looks like a regular nail. Am I making sense??

Is the dead part on the upper part of the nail??

 

[DebbieB]

I wore a pair of too tight shoes on a business trip the beginning of November last year and it ended up bleeding underneath my big toenail. It's like yours, it's only on the one side. Little by little it is growing out. It wasn't bad enough to lift off on that side. I'm hoping it grows out by summer.

 

[worm761]

My boyfriend broke his toe playing soccer a few years ago. It lead to a problem with his toenail. It had to be removed. It did grow back after a while.

 

[rcraw45425]

Meet the queen of toenail trouble! I first injured my left big toenail as a toddler, dropped a concrete block on it (yep, trying to be Supergirl). Nail returned. Next dropped a skate on it as a young teen, had to have it removed by pediatrician. Then while working in an industrial environment I kicked open a door, injured it again, had it removed. (actually the day I met DH was the first time I had had a closed shoe on in three months!). Luckily I'm now married to an ER doctor. I think I've knocked it off 3 or more times in our 18 years of marriage. What usually happens to mine is it will come loose from the nail bed and the new nail will already be growing underneath. Be prepared though, the nail may come back thicker or deformed, or both. Mine has finally returned to a normal length, it just doesn't grow now. Actually, since yours sounds like mine, you could start wiggling it and it will eventually loosen up and come off, or if you're squeamish, either go to your doc, a non emergency clinic or visit my DH in the ER and they'll numb it up and take it off.

 

[themarquis]

Thanks folks!

Re: where is the dead part of the nail, it is half and half dead and alive -- dead on the right, alive on the left. It really looks like someone has drawn a line down the nail.

If it were a horizontal line (that is, the top was dead), I'd feel much less stressed about the whole thing and would just clip off that bit. But because it's vertical, I can't figure out what to do!

I guess what I imagine happening is that a new nail will grow in under the dead one, but the dead part will continue to stick to the alive part, so then I will end up with two toenails (er, one and a half? ).

OR ... my other thought is that if I clip off the dead part -- not sure how without ripping the live bit out of my skin! -- but if somehow I managed, then I would have half a new growing toenail on the right (someone else said it gets built up in layers?) and then half a completely grown one on the left. Then, how would the two halves ever join??? Like ... would I end up with a split down the center of it for the rest of my life?

Lol! I so don't care about my toenails, it's just skeeving me out, this whole half a dead nail thing!

 

[juligrl]

Wow a bunch of people with a bad toenail - I love it!

I lost both big ones when I was about 13. They were both dead and loose for quite a while actually (probably 5-6 months). Eventually they just got so loose they worked their way off with minimal guidance from me. They did grow back in a little thicker but nice and normal looking.

Flash forward to two summers ago and I dropped a kayak trailer onto my sandaled foot. OUCH! My big toenail took the brunt of the hit and within days was all purplish and greenish so I thought "oh here we go again." Two years later, it's still on and still growing but the top half is all green & yellow and the bottom part is normal looking - but it's not loose . I think it's time I go get it checked out...

Still kind of squeamish about these things though.

Oh and I love sandals and nail polish is my best friend.

 

[iggbees]

it will fall out eventually. don't try and rip it out. i lost a toenail when i was in high school from playing field hockey. i had a water blister under it, that i had to pop (which was wayyyyy more disgusting than the actual nail falling out). i remember mine was painted a pretty green sparkly color the day it fell out. it does look strange when it falls out, but the new nail grows in pretty quickly and i honestly can't even remember which foot it was on, so it doesn't leave a mark.

i also remember this happening to other girls on my team who went to the drs to get their toenails removed.

needless to say, i stopped playing field hockey that season.

 

[bumbershoot]

I would try to leave it be. It'll do what it's going to do.

I have one funky toenail and one funky fingernail (and finger, b/c the door took part of my finger off along with the nail), and they are funky in their own unique ways.

There's really no way to know what has happened to the nail bed where the nail originates...might be "alive", might not, might be half alive...you'll know when you know.

With my finger I went to a hand surgeon, the whole bit...he had NO idea what would happen. We'll see when we see was basically the knowledge imparted to me. With the toe, I went to the urgent care center mainly to get some good drugs (didn't even get that, turns out vicodin and I do not play well together!), and the urgent care doctor said, and I quote, "EW". Squirted some water on it, put some bandages on it, sent me on my way. No help whatsoever.

Now neither of those nails did the vertical thing yours did, but I *think* that the very middle of my nailbed of the toe got weird, b/c I have a very thick vertical ridge that still grows...when I trim the nail you can see the layers, they aren't as stuck together as either side of the same nail, and you can see sort of a white vertical line on the nail. It's very odd. So you might end up with something like that. Or not. Who knows? You'll know when you know.

Now keep your hands off of it!

 

[MoniqueU]

We had a peg perego highchair on wheels, my daughter grabbed the bar on the back and I went to pick her up and it tipedded over ripping my big toenail clear off. It hurt more then labor or when I broke my wrist. Unbelievable pain.

 

[sunlover13]

Dang! How far do you people run that you are losing toenails?

I guess I'm glad I only run a 5K when I go out running. No toenail loss for me.

OP - Can't help w/ your 1/2 dead toenail, but I think you should post a picture.

I did lose a fingernail and the nail started to grow underneath it until it fell off.

Waiting for a picture.

 

[TheZue]

I haven't lost any toenails, but I've lost a few finger nails, I got a few fingers caught in doors growing up. Generally they just grow out...the dead part just keeps moving up and eventually you can cut it. Mine never detatched from the good part.

 

[OK!]

I have a half-dead toenail right now, too--also from running. It's still firmly attached on the left side and all detached and prone to snagging on things on the right, so my non-solution has been to wear these lovely little Cars band-aids (because that's what's in the house) with a piece of adhesive tape wrapped once around my toe. I figure that way it's still protecting the top of my toe while I'm still running and (hopefully) won't be getting yanked out anytime soon. I really wouldn't mind it loosening up a little more quickly and just sorta falling out on its own, though. Gack.

 

[themarquis]

Dang! How far do you people run that you are losing toenails?

I guess I'm glad I only run a 5K when I go out running. No toenail loss for me.

OP - Can't help w/ your 1/2 dead toenail, but I think you should post a picture.

I did lose a fingernail and the nail started to grow underneath it until it fell off.

Waiting for a picture.

lol! You have NO idea who you're talking to -- I'm a total medical buff and un-gross-out-able and am soooo tempted right now to post a pic!

Maybe I will but as a link so any people who get grossed out aren't forced to click on it, lol!

Thanks again to everyone for the advice -- it sounds like my freakish toenail is not so unusual (wellll maybe a bit). I think a few of you said something to the effect of "let it be and it will take care of itself" which is advice I can really get behind! Yesss ... ignore it and maybe it will go away .. I love it!

 

[flying_babyb]

I'd rip it off but thats just me, the girl who cut her own mole off her toe (painful to say the least, I thought it was blister). Then again if the dead nails there it protects your toe nail bed from infection.

 

[SAHDad]

Dang! How far do you people run that you are losing toenails?

I guess I'm glad I only run a 5K when I go out running. No toenail loss for me.

I have a couple of hammertoes, so it's not really a question of mileage or shoes that does it. But a lot of marathoners (and half-marathoners) manage at least one black toenail during training or on race day.

And on ultras, toenail loss is just an accepted fact of life.

 

[Carpenters]

Another vote for leaving it alone if it doesn't hurt. Nail polish covers up a lot of ills for summer shoe wear (for us girls, anyway), just remember to take it off every now and then to check and see how the toes are doing under there.

 

[Darsa]

omgomgomgomgomg....

Ugh ugh ugh, read through this thread to try and toughen myself up, since anything foot/toe related grosses me out. Didn't work, just grossed me out



I have had issues with nails before, and I bandaged 'em 'til they grew out, or was just REALLY careful with 'em if they were my toes, since I can't stand to have anything attached to my toes

Hmm, I should post that in "does this make me crazy?" LOL

 

[sunlover13]

Picture or link please........