# Regrowing toenail **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2012, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688 "2012-02-13T06:57:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pablo\_O\_Malley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Pablo\_O\_Malley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pablo_O_Malley)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/1 "2012-02-13T06:57:02Z")
i lost a big toenail, how long will it take to grow back, and is there anything to speed the process up? any vitamins or anything else? does gelatin caps or eating jello help? ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/2 "2012-02-13T07:17:51Z")
I lost both big toenails around age 15 and IIRC, they took about six months or more to regrow. I have no advice on speeding the process up, sorry. Pregnancy is the only thing that’s reliably made my nails grow faster but it has some drawbacks and isn’t for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![benbo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@benbo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benbo1)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/3 "2012-02-13T12:11:19Z")
I had 1 come completely off - started regrowing in ~ a week, completely replaced by 2 months or so. I wasn’t pregnant (I assume, since I’m a man). I take anti-oxidants (like Resveratrol, krill oil & CoQ10), & eat a very veggie-heavy diet (also full of anti-oxidants), tho not a vegetarian - the protein comes from turkey, chicken, & salmon. Then again, maybe it’s calcium, from the green, leafy & cruciferous veggies. ---
**Author:** ![Pablo\_O\_Malley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Pablo\_O\_Malley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pablo_O_Malley)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/4 "2012-02-14T00:41:22Z")
wow ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/5 "2012-02-14T01:08:45Z")
I lost my big toe nail when a horse stepped on it. It was pretty painful and I ended up wearing the fashion crime of socks and sandals for the first few days after it happened. I seem to recall that it took a couple of months for it to grow back. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Handsome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@Gus\_Handsome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Handsome)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/6 "2012-02-14T04:38:54Z")
I lost a big toe nail when a brick landed on my foot. it took almost a year for it to grow back. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/7 "2012-02-14T04:41:57Z")
I dropped a chopping board on my big toe nail. :smack: It grew back in a couple of months. I took no vitamins (and I don’t eat many vegetables :o.) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/8 "2012-02-14T08:48:32Z")
Because I’m diabetic, it has taken about 9 months for one of my nails to grow back. If you’re looking for a supplement, try biotin. Don’t know whether it will speed up the growth or just make it stronger. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/9 "2012-02-14T08:53:44Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Because I’m diabetic, it has taken about 9 months for one of my nails to grow back. If you’re looking for a supplement, try biotin. Don’t know whether it will speed up the growth or just make it stronger. Isn’t biotin the thing the dead astronomer in that old Psych episode took? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/10 "2012-02-14T10:41:17Z")
Be careful while the nail is off and your underlying nail bed is exposed. If you damage the nailbed it may never grow back properly. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/11 "2012-02-14T17:05:09Z")
I lost a middle toenail during an Unfortunate Boating Incident. It took about 6-8 weeks to grow back. The good news was, the old one was ingrown. The new one grew back _not_ ingrown. So that was nice. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/12 "2012-02-14T18:14:52Z")
I lost a big toe nail to a thrown baseball that I lost sight of and then failed to get out of the way of. Took a couple of months to get it back, I think. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/13 "2012-02-14T18:48:17Z")
The [Jell](http://www.livestrong.com/article/173899-gelatin-and-nail-growth/)-O thing [is an](http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100204433)old [myth](http://ndri.com/article/food_myths-930.html). However, the biotin supplement thing isn’t - I started taking them and can attest that my hair and nails definitely started growing faster and stronger. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/14 "2012-02-14T21:04:01Z")
I have lost big toenails a few times. It always took 6 - 9 months for them to grow back completely. However, they don’t grow back from back to front like I thought they would for some reason. Instead, the nail bed gets tough pretty quickly and then gets thicker over time until it looks normal again. You will have a pre-toenail that does most of the job in just a month or so but it it can be a little fragile and sensitive. ---
**Author:** ![Pablo\_O\_Malley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Pablo\_O\_Malley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pablo_O_Malley)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/15 "2012-02-15T05:51:58Z")
where do u get biotin ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regrowing-toenail/612688/16 "2012-02-15T11:27:11Z")
Took me about 6 months to regrow my big toenail when I ripped it off. I also lost both toenails on my pinky toes when I was a child due to constantly catching them on table legs, wall corners, bricks, etc. It took close to 8 years for those to come back.