lack of toenail

[mycenae]

At work the other night I stubbed my toe on a carpet runner. It hurt, and as you do, I grabbed my toe....which is when I realised the nail was hanging off from cuticle to tip on one side. Then it hurt a bit more. Tried to ignore it, and hope it would heal itself back down if I strapped it, as still had rest og night to finish and another to go after it.
No such luck. So visited A&E post night shift. The removed the nail. It hurt some more. Now it's really quite sore to put my foot in anything resembling a shoe....even a slipper.
Anyone else done this? Can you give me an idea how long it takes before you can wear a shoe again?

 

[Lethul]

You never lost a nail before?
Imo it usually goes over quite fast, just have some plaster(?) on it in the beginning so the socks and stuff don't get stuck. No worries

 

[mycenae]

I've had to put vaseline soaked gauze over it as there is nothing protecting the nailbed.

 

[Chilly]

I've lost a few, only one toenail tho and it was little toe not big toe so very different. I actually try to leave the old, dead nail on for as long as possible so that the new nail can grow and the tissue underneath the old nail can desensitise (it will take a few days) slowly and pretty much painlessly.

 

[Lethul]

I've had to put vaseline soaked gauze over it as there is nothing protecting the nailbed.

Im no expert! But that sounds good And i usually take everything off as often as possible , no socks etc when home. That usually fastens the hardend "crust" to form It will be back in no time,I just got a brand new bigtoe nail myself a couple of weeks ago!

 

[mycenae]

sounds like you make a joyful habit of it Lethul!

 

[TdC]

you should have plucked it off right away, then you wouldn't have had to go to A&E

 

[rynnor]

Surely Trem is the expert on all forms of bodily injury

 

[mycenae]

I tried teedles but it was still a bit attached and hurt too freakin' much. I may be a nurse, but am still a bit of a wimp when it comes to inflicting pain on myself!

 

[TdC]

I know it's hard to do it to yourself. I'm not sure if I'd have managed it either but tbh I hate A&E more than anything

 

[gunner440]

I had some sort of fake nail put on a few days after the injury which helped a lot.

Roomy shoes are the only way to go. Maybe get something half a size larger than normal for the time being.

As for healing time, I think it was around 2 months for me though I only used the fake nail for about a couple of weeks.

 

[mycenae]

getting shoes half a size bigger than I already have is tricky...I'm an english size 11!

 

[Zenith.UK]

It took me about 6 weeks to grow my big toenail to the point where the nailbed wasn't exposed any more.

 

[Yoni]

I had my toenail removed twice once end of 07 the second time beginning of 08 (what had grown).... I walked home from the hospital on the second occasion in platforms.... the only pain was the removal as my toe was so badly infected the anesthetic didnt work

The nail bed was sprayed with iodine and it had a compressed bandage to stem the bleed. Apart from that I had some pk's

They told me if it did hurt just pain killers, avoid getting it wet and if it did then ensure it was 'fully' dry before re-dressing

 

[mycenae]

Erk, sounds horrid Yons. All makes sense, I've been put on a 5 days day course of antibiotics as a precaution. I have dressings and stuff for it, its just hard to make 'em stay put as its on a tiny toe!

 

[Lazarus]

u could try the corn plaster - you know the "O" shaped plasters if you can get them big enough to go ROUND the sore bit. this should leave the wound open but stop things pressing on it.

 

[Overdriven]

I had one like this a few years back (early teens) and it was hanging there and I got utterly pissed off with it.. Covered it in duct tape, stuck the heating up and played tekken for a few hours.

Suddenly the pain vanished from where it was hanging. Took the tape off, and ta-daa.. No more nail. Fun bit was the growing back.

(Note: Duct-Tape toe-removal was a last case thing, it worked, and I was proud)

 

[Vasconcelos]

It happens to me every early autumm with the return of the sports seasson. I always smash one of the toenail of my feet. At first it becomes purple and painfull, but in 3 or 4 days, the blood starts coagulating and the new nail begins growing back pushing the old one. Thats when i can remove it completly w/o feeling any pain. In the span of 3-4 months the new one is full grown.