# Do fingernails grow back after they're removed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455 "2022-07-23T20:58:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/1 "2022-07-23T20:58:36Z")
In my life as a movie watcher I’ve seen thousands of nails yanked out by the root in a damp basement with weeping walls and a single swinging, flickering, yellow globe. But I’ve never seen followup. Are the nailbeds scartissued for life? Or do the nails ever grow back? If so, are they the same as pre-pliers or are they somehow misshapen forever? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/2 "2022-07-23T21:37:28Z")
Yes, they will grow back, but it will take a while. It can take six months for a fingernail to grow back and 18 months for a toenail to grow back completely. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/3 "2022-07-23T21:50:30Z")
Nailed it. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/4 "2022-07-23T23:16:07Z")
I see what you did there, MMM. Some childhood friends of ours had a familial tendancy for their toenails to just fall out on their own. They would put them under their pillow and get a quarter from the Toenail Fairy, and they’d grow back (though I’m not exactly sure how long it took). ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/5 "2022-07-24T00:07:21Z")
When I was 13 I left my hand in the car doorway for too long and had one of my fingers get slammed shut with it. I lost the nail on that finger but it grew back within a month from what I remember. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/6 "2022-07-24T02:53:55Z")
Unless the matrix is also destroyed, yes, they will, although like everyone has said, it will take a while. ---
**Author:** ![EDOK9Trainer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/838e76/32.png) [@EDOK9Trainer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EDOK9Trainer)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/7 "2022-07-24T09:23:22Z")
I’ve not had any fingernails removed but I have had several toenails removed thanks to issues I was seeing with my feet/Diabetes/Neuropathy and constantly being on my feet while wearing work boots. Podiatrist said removing them would help rectify some of the issues so I said to take them. It did help. But all have grown back so removing them, at least with the feet, is only temporary. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/8 "2022-07-24T13:42:57Z")
Couple summers ago I was cutting a piece of wood on a miter saw when it kicked back so badly the piece of wood I was holding smashed the end of my middle finger. The nail eventually fell off and a new one had already started growing underneath. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2022, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/9 "2022-07-24T14:38:58Z")
Podiatrists have some potion to deliberately kill a section of the matrix so ingrown toe nails won’t grow back askew. Plus, the anesthetic they use is fantastic; they could take your entire toe apart with pinking shears and you’d never know it (until later, of course, when it’ll hurt like hell). ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/10 "2022-07-24T16:14:04Z")
I dropped a cutting board on my toe once.(Ouch!) I lost a toenail, which grew back over many weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/11 "2022-07-24T16:20:57Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > In my life as a movie watcher I’ve seen thousands of nails yanked out by the root in a damp basement with weeping walls and a single swinging, flickering, yellow globe. Holy shit! If I were you I would stop watching movies in damp basements with weeping walls and swinging, flickering, yellow globes. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/12 "2022-07-24T19:28:07Z")
For years I had a deformed index finger nail that was both uncomfortable and VERY unsightly. Had it removed twice by my Doctor; grew back both times more deformed than ever. Doc advised me to see someone who specialized in hands, who explained that destroying the underlying matrix was the only way to permanently lose a nail. The surgery involved cutting and folding back the flesh, exposing the entire fingertip to the bone (sort of like a PEZ dispenser). Eight years later, no trace of any new nail. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/13 "2022-07-24T19:41:30Z")
If your nail is pulled or out or injured so it comes out, is there risk of infection before the new one grows in? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/14 "2022-07-24T20:21:41Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Holy shit! If I were you I would stop watching movies in damp basements with weeping walls and swinging, flickering, yellow globes. I’m just wondering how a root in a damp basement can yank out a nail. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/15 "2022-07-24T21:41:25Z")
I know people who have lost toenails after running a marathon and they grow back. The nail grows primarily from behind the cuticle and is pushed out over the nail bed. Yanking out the nail is a little like plucking a hair. When cats are declawed (never declaw your cat) the claws don’t grow back because the root from where they grow is surgically removed, taking bone along with it. I don’t think the beady-eyed torturers in B movies have tried that on people. Pulling them out with pliers is sufficiently painful. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/16 "2022-07-25T06:45:32Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Podiatrists have some potion to deliberately kill a section of the matrix Phenol, > **[Treatment of Ingrown Toenail With Proximolateral Matrix Partial Excision and...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3495930/)** > > Ingrown toenail is one of the most common nail conditions. Although many surgical treatments are described for complicated cases, recurrence of pain and postoperative disability are common. We evaluated the long-term efficacy of proximolateral matrix... ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/17 "2022-07-25T07:52:19Z")
yes you can get fungus ---
**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:** [July 25, 2022, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/18 "2022-07-25T14:02:56Z")
Good article, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fingernails-grow-back-after-theyre-removed/968455/19 "2022-07-25T15:00:56Z")
Anecdotal but I lost a fingernail after having my hand smashed in a car door. The nail grew back.