Detached Toenail

I recently kicked my cd tower with a barefoot. Yes, it was painful. The nail on my left pinky toe was seriously injured, and bled profusely. It lift up about 30 degrees, enough for me to see that it was only attached at the very base where it begins. I was sure I could probably just tear it off, but I’m a big pansy and couldn’t bear even the thought. I rinsed it and pushed the nail back down and slapped a band-aid on it. All I’ve read online suggests that once a nail is detached from the nailbed it will not reattach. It will fall off and a new one will grow. Online MD sites say to either pull it off/trim it off, or just tape it down and wait for the new one to force the old one off. Leaving it on runs the risk of it snagging though. Fair enough.

However after three days, and after a good foot soak, the nail doesn’t seem to want to lift. (I was thinking of just pulling it off now.) It seems kind of like its attached again. Is that possible? Or is it just stuck on there with the bio fluids of the injury? Also do I run a greater risk of undernail fungus and such if I leave it on? Since the nail bed has been exposed to water, air, sock lint, etc, should I just pull it off?

Same problem, but my pinkie toe wasn’t as bad as yours. It bled and was about half lifted. I just taped it down, drained the blood, and made sure to keep it clean. I had no problems with fungus. It took a while, as the nail grew I would trim the old nail off. Eventually the nail grew back in place again. I’m guessing something like 6 months?

Been there, done that. When I was a kid I had badly ingrown nails on both big toes, and had each taken off twice, and finally had both off at once (IIRC - I was young!) and the sides of the roots killed. Then a couple of years ago I kicked a curb and the nail came off the big toe again. I had to make a hole to drain some blood, but just kept it taped down until it was all loose and I could take it off painlessly. The new nail did take months to reach the end of the bed, but I don’t think it was six, maybe four instead.

I doubt that it’s really properly attached, but just stuck down with fluids. I’d keep a bit of tape on it until it wants to lift by itself, and keep an eye out for infection. It will probably be OK.

Drink a couple of beers. Get a pair of clippers or good nail scissors and trim off the “flighty” bits. Do this every weekend or two until the nail does what it wants to do. The nail feels no pain; it’s what’s under the nail that hurts.

You’ll be fine. :slight_smile: