# Are these the toenails I'm gonna die with? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 13, 2017, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-the-toenails-im-gonna-die-with/793535 "2017-08-13T13:45:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-the-toenails-im-gonna-die-with/793535/1 "2017-08-13T13:45:00Z")
I’m a 55 y/o male. About 8 years ago I “injured” the nails on both my big toes during an athletic competition; the result being they both fell off. Well, take a peek under my socks today and you may recoil when you see my two ghastly-looking, twisted, badly-discolored, really-really thick replacement nails. Is that it for my dreams of becoming a Birkenstock model? I also lost those same nails in the same manner when I was about 30 but what grew back then was recognizably human. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-the-toenails-im-gonna-die-with/793535/2 "2017-08-13T16:02:34Z")
Steel yourself and go see a podiatrist. My wife and I saw one a couple years back and he was the best. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-the-toenails-im-gonna-die-with/793535/3 "2017-08-13T16:26:25Z")
I got a finger caught in a car door decades ago when I was a child; the damage to my fingernail is still evident. So I would guess that unless you can find a medical specialist to do surgery on it then you will die that way. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-the-toenails-im-gonna-die-with/793535/4 "2017-08-13T16:52:34Z")
You could contact [this guy](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11277890) to see how his transplant experiments have worked out…