OUCH! (warning graphic story)

[User67]

So yesterday I was out running around town taking care of some things. I had to go into this one building that had a super long flight of cement stairs. I was in a hurry, so instead of just walking up them like a normal person. I decided to jog up them like I am freaking "Rocky" or something. I guess I wasn't paying attention & next thing I know I smash my middle toe into one of the steps (I was wearing flip flops). So now I am in agony & blood starts gushing out from under the toe nail. I go into a bathroom, clean it as best I can & wrap a napkin around it until I can get home & properly take care of it. When I get home it's all swollen, but the nail seems to be intact. So I clean it with peroxide, alcohol & rap a bandaid around it. Today I took off the bandaid & aside from a little dried blood around the tip of the nail, it looks pretty normal. However, my friend had a similar injury to her toenail & eventually it fell of & now when it grows it won't re-attach to the nail bed. So now I am scared that this might happen to me too! I'm all about having cute polished fingers & toes, I can't be missing a toenail! Have any of you ladies ever had an injury like this? If so, did you lose a nail? If so, did it grow back with no problem? I need to know if I should have hope or prepare for the worst lol!

 

[TISH1124]

I think you should have hope...I have lost two toenails and they grew back with proper care...Just make sure to keep something on it like neosporin so it does not get infected and give it lots of air....Air helps the healing just like with your fingernails....It is gonna hurt like hell for a bit anyway so closed toe shoes will be more painful....But just keep putting the neosporin or similar on it until it heals then after that keep it moisturized and put a good nail strengthener on it ...the good thing is toe nails grow faster than fingernails IMO...I hope it feels better...Most toenails that don;t grow back have problems prior to breaking off like nail fungus etc....My father's took years to grow back but it was because he had that toe fungus crap that needed to be treated with internal meds

 

[blondie711]

I lost a toenail a few years ago, result of a horrible toe "stubbing" in flip flops, just like you. It eventually turned black/blue and fell off. I was horrified and went to the doctor. His advice was exactly what Tish said..lots of air, don't try to squeeze into tight shoes, 100% cotton socks when needed, lots of neosporin or aquaphor. Lots of runners lose toenails that never grow back, but that's because the foot is always stressed when running. I think you will be fine, hope you feel better soon! HTH

 

[User67]

Thanks so much for the great advice ladies! I just took a long soak in the tub to loosen up the rest of the dried blood. I put some Neosporin on it & I'm going to file it down a little so that if the nail does start to lift, it won't get caught on anything. It's feeling much better today as well! And I am optimistic that if I do lose the nail it, it will grow back nicely if I take good care of it. Thanks again, I'm not so scared anymore

 

[chynegal]

This happend to me the other day...I work in retail and I slammed my pinkie toe into a metal fixture at work and I had on flip flops also...when I hit it I didnt think anything of it untill I looked down and saw a pool of blood. I split my pinkie toe in half all the way down to the nail bed. It did eventually fall off and grow back so don't worry

 

[ginger9]

Good luck I hope it doesn't completely fall off! I lost a toe nail from running a 10km race. My running shoes were too tight and there was constant chaffing I bandaged and put polysporin on it hoping I could save it but within a few days the nail fell off. I was also scared it would not grown back or be all twisted looking as a result but in time it came back and grew nicely. It took a long time though. I didn't wear any open toe shoes nor polish that whole season!

Yes I agree with Tish keep it very clean, wrapped and put neosporin/polysporin on it!

 

[DILLIGAF]

Dropped a pretty heavy curtain rod on my big left toe in when I was in college. It turned black and eventually fell off. It grew back perfectly normal. The advice you got in this tread is pretty sound. Keep it clean, keep it aired and you should be fine.

 

[MACATTAK]

I've lost a toenail like the others, and it grew back fine!

 

[BEA2LS]

i lost a toenail and it did grow back fine

so no worries and at least summer is over so flip flop season is ending soon

 

[NutMeg]

Something I've learned. Do not run up stairs in flip flops. You think you can do it, but you can't.

 

[chocolategoddes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nyla2120 However, my friend had a similar injury to her toenail & eventually it fell of & now when it grows it won't re-attach to the nail bed.

OMG that sounds painful! Hopefully your toenails don't fall off!
If it does, I guess that's when press-on toe nails come in handy.

This past week, my cousin had to get three if his toes amputated after getting in a really bad accident! Your story reminded me of it.

 

[User67]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chocolategoddes OMG that sounds painful! Hopefully your toenails don't fall off! If it does, I guess that's when press-on toe nails come in handy. This past week, my cousin had to get three if his toes amputated after getting in a really bad accident! Your story reminded me of it.

Good God! That really puts things into perspective, I'm whining about a toenail & some poor guy lost 3 toes! I'm sorry to hear that

 

[~whathehair~]

YEOW!~ I feel your pain.. Two weeks or so ago I was taking my bike upstairs & hit my pinky toe on the edge of my metal pedal AH! It rammed right under the nail & cut underneath. It would snag on my bed sheet a little despite trimming it since it was "loose" EEK! So I trimmed it down as far as I could & kept it nice & clean... All healed now. But I felt weird with all my other toenails being longer so now they are all tiny LOL. Hope yours heals good. Alcohol/Peroxide & trimming helped me.

 

[L1LMAMAJ]

i'm sure it will grow back! i lost a toenail once cuz my fatass brother stepped on me. he was much bigger than me when we were kids. i was like 70 pounds when i was much younger and he was like 170. pounds. haha he was a lot bigger than me. anyway the big toe nail cracked and fell off but it grew back nicely. stuck to the nail bed n everything. you'll be ok. =]

 

[User67]

Well, it's been like 3 weeks now & it hasn't fallen off. It looks a little bruised under the nail in like 1 little area, but it's fully attached to the nail bed. Maybe I got lucky & it will just grow out & not fall off.

 

[luvsic]

The same exact thing happened to me a few years ago!! That's why I always trim my toe nails now..to prevent anything like that from happening again.

What you did was right, to clean and dress it. I went to the doctor and she said it would take about a month to grow back...and it did. It will fall off, just don't poke and tug at it and keep it clean. There was this funky half-grown stage where I was too embarrassed to wear flip flops, but it did grow back. Don't worry!

 

[greengoesmoo]

Congrats on not loosing it!

The blood clot will grow out and please don't sniff it if it comes out when you're painting your nails or anything.. I made that mistake once! If it's a big clot it will smell of unholy death! (If it's tiny, it will come out powdery.)

You never know, once the wound has healed and you're just left with under nail damage/bruising, (You can start painting them again then btw) it might work as a part of an intresting design.. See if you can see any shape/pic you can make from it!!

I've lost and damaged quite a few finger and toe nails through impacts, mostly from wood and metal work at college. I have never had a problem with them growing back.

I have however discovered the more damage a nail takes the deeper the ridges (lenthways) get, that's the only problem I have ever had.

 

[Junkie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by greengoesmoo please don't sniff it if it comes out when you're painting your nails or anything.. I made that mistake once! If it's a big clot it will smell of unholy death!

lol!

I had a similar thing happen - I was running around barefoot and rammed my bigtoe into a raised part of the sidewalk....I screamed so loud! And then I made the mistake of dipping it into a HOT bath thinking the water would make it feel better...lol nope!

But just like eveyrone else has said - lots of air, open toed shoes and polysporin helped me - even after it fell off. Lots of nerves and it stings like a biatch - but it gets better!

 

[User67]

*Update* I started to notice that the nail was getting "loose" and starting to detach from the nail bed. When I would remove my toenail polish I saw that the nail was dying & turning white because it was lifting from the nail bed. So I just kept trimming it shorter so that it wouldn't get caught on anything. And I kept it polished in dark colors so that nobody would have to see how ugly it was lol! Then finally about a month ago I was taking off my toenail polish & the nail just came right off in my hand. Funny thing is that I guess somehow the new nail was growing underneath it & so there was about a quarter of new nail growth. Now I have about half a toenail, so I guess in maybe another month or 2 it will be fully grown back. No more running in flip flops for me lol!