Layered toenails?

Factual Questions
1

I’m not seeking medical advice. More like seeking advice on whether I need to seek medical advice.

My toenails look funny. Similar to what’s pictured here, the nails on my big toes seem to be growing in layers. Nothing hurts, nothing’s discolored, and there’s been no trauma to my nails at all. The line across my nail has been there for a few months now, and it seems to be growing out slowly towards the edge of the nail (but slower than the nail is growing, if that makes sense).

I can’t find any information about this online, and I’ll go see a doc if I need to, but I wanted to see if anyone here may know about this sort of thing. If it’s a “meh, happens to me all the time, no worries” then I’ll happily skip the co-pay and keep the nails covered in polish till the extra layers fall off.

2

Try wrongdiagnosis.com. They have a symptom checker that might give you some leads.

3

Hate to be gross, but could be a (harmless) fungal infection.

I used to get something like this back when I played soccer.

I also got this from soccer from repeated ingrown nails, which eventually required minor surgery to deaden part of the nail matrix.

4

It could be fungus, or aging, or your shoes, or just your nails. The only way to really be sure is to see a podiatrist or a dermatologist and have them do a fungal culture. It takes 4 to 6 weeks for results, and don’t clip them before you go in for it. If you do go this route, and it does end up being fungus, oral Lamisil tablets work some of the time. It went generic a couple years ago, and insurance doesn’t usually pay for it because fungus is harmless if it’s not painful to you. A lot of places charge up to $200 for a month’s supply, but it’s part of Walmart’s $4 Rx program so go there or somewhere else that has it that cheap- don’t overpay! A recent study shows that coating the nails with Vicks VapoRub has about the same effectiveness as Lamisil, but I don’t know how you’d keep it on?

5

As for other non-prescription remedies, Tea Tree Oil is also sometimes recommended.

Another prescription route: Penlac nail lacquer.

I have a very bad fungally infected nail. VapoRub, Penlac, and Tea Tree Oil were all ineffective for me. I can’t take Lamisil because of contra-indicated drug interactions with some existing meds.

I remember reading that someone actually wrote a book about this and said that Lamisil combined with Penlac was the most effective solution. Ah, hereit is.

Good Luck,
J.