Lost Toenail Squick!

[rejectomorph]

Way Too Much Information

My right big toe nail finally came off- well, most of it did. There's still about an eighth of an inch of it clinging on. This was the nail which was ingrown when I was a kid and had to be cut out, and then never fully returned to normal. It was always a bit disconnected on the side where it had been ingrown. A couple of years ago, it apparently picked up a nail fungus from the toe next to it, and since then it has gradually lifted up and gotten a bit gross. I've been expecting it to drop off for several days now. When I put my socks on after showering tonight, I felt the nail slip in between my toes. It didn't really hurt, but I'm totally squicked. I don't want to examine it too closely. I know there was a bunch of stuff under the nail, and I'm sure it's going to look disgusting.

Nails are supposed to grow back, right? I suppose I should put something on it, like disinfectant or something. I'll probably get gangrene and die, if I don't. My hypochondria is making me very queasy. Stupid toenail.

Comments

[carbonunit.livejournal.com]

Lucky this didn't happen to me, or you'd be looking at a close-up photo.

Nails do grow back, but your case might be different. If it's taken decades to fall off it might be permanently gone.

You don't have diabetes do you?

[rejectomorph]

I've never been tested for diabetes, but I've kept my sugar consumption very low for years because I found that eating too much of the stuff made me feel kind of crappy.

The toenail only began lifting up a couple of years ago. It was decades ago that it was ingrown and one side had to be sliced out, but it was fine for a long time after that, except for the fact that I had to clean under the side as well as the front. Oddly, the toe next to it has been thick and deformed by some sort of persistent nail fungus for much longer, but has never even come loose.

There is a little stub end of the lost nail still attached, but I doubt that it's free of the fungus, so even if it does grow out, I'll still have that problem.

Sorry I don't have a digicam.

[myasma.livejournal.com]

Yes, hmmmmmm.

Maybe you should consult the podiatrist. I think nails should grow back normally, unless the nail bed itself has been damaged.

Is it still blazing hot there? I am about 70 miles from the Atlantic ocean, and the weather is lovely.

[rejectomorph]

For the last couple of days there's been a bit of delta breeze cooling things off. It's interfering with the spraying that's been going on to control the mosquitoes that carry West Nile Virus, though, so it's a mixed blessing.

I suppose it would be wise to have the toe looked at, but I'll probably be unwise and let it go until (or if) it begins to hurt. Right now it's only a bit annoying.

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

i had a toenail violently yanked off a year or so ago in an accident involving a rug. it was diseased, too, with fungus. the doctor removed it, painfully, cutting away where it was anchored at the cuticle. it has finally grown back, but it takes a while. you are putting something like polysporin on it, and a dressing, i hope?

[rejectomorph]

Ouch! My nail isn't entirely gone. It broke near the base leaving a little stub next to the cuticle. I hope I don't have to have the rest of it removed. It sounds very unpleasant. (I remember when the ingown part was cut out, and every morning for days, when the blood rushed into my foot as I got out of bed, it hurt like hell.) I've actually barely looked at the thing since it came off, so there is no dressing.

It didn't bleed, though. No flesh was involved in the detachment. The area under the nail is still dark with dead fungus (and probably sock fuzz, too), but it's been exposed to the elements for several months now, since the nail had risen up into a form a bit like a quonset hut. Still, I think I might try spraying it with something antiseptic.

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

oh, i see. i'm glad it's not bloody and oozy, which is the way mine was afterward. nasty. may i suggest making a solution of warm water and peroxide and then soaking the toe for a few minutes? that might effortlessly lift off some of the accumulating gunk, or at least loosen it, and it's what i'd try first. it's also antiseptic, of course, so you'd kills lotsa birds with that stone. :)

[rejectomorph]

Thanks. That sounds like a sensible solution (heh- solution.) I don't have any peroxide on hand, but I can have my sister pick some up on her way over this morning.