What to Do About Toenail Trauma and How to Easily Fix Their Appearance

Have you ever stubbed your toe? Sometimes it could be so severe that you sprain or break your toe. Other times the bones are okay, but you damage your toenail. That could be just as painful as breaking your toe. If you hit your toenail on something, or if your toe gets stepped on, you may notice a darkness beneath your toenail. Sometimes the nails start to lift off the nail bed. This is because of bleeding beneath the toenail. The blood gets between the skin and the underside of the toenail and there's just nowhere for it to go. This can cause redness surrounding the nail and pain. If this happens, you should get it checked by a #HoustonPodiatrist.

Runners and other athletes sometimes have trauma to the toenails as well. This is from the repetitive pressure of the nail hitting the end or the top of the shoe. Sometimes this repetitive microtrauma will lead to the nail thickening. Other times, especially after a longer race, you can have blistering or bleeding beneath the nail. This is commonly referred to as runner's toenail.

Believe it or not, the same injury can happen from wearing a shoe that is too short. It doesn't take much to cause trauma to the toenails. It's a simple process to relieve the pressure caused by bleeding under the nail. In the office, I perform a painless procedure where I make small holes in the toenail. This allows the blood to drain from beneath the nail. When we're able to do this soon after the injury, the nail is often able to reattach to the nail bed and continue growing.

Sometimes the injury causes a blister to form beneath the nail. In these cases, I often don't even have to put holes in the nail. I'm able to access the blister through the end of the toenail and allow it to drain. Even after the blood or blister is drained from beneath the nail, the toenail will still likely be stained underneath.

At this point, one of two things will happen. If we were successful in saving the toenail, the nail will just grow out. The darkened portion of the nail will ultimately reach the end and you just clip it away. It takes about nine months for a great toenail to regrow, start to end. For the other toenails, about six months.

Sometimes, if the injury is more severe, or we don't get to it in time, the nail will separate from the nail bed and a new nail will start to grow beneath it. If this happens, it will look like the nail is thickening. When the new nail progresses far enough, the top nail will loosen and ultimately come off. When this happens, it usually comes off with no pain and no bleeding. You just feel the nail rattling around in your sock. There's no reason to come to the office unless there's pain, bleeding, or pus when that nail comes off. When that top nail comes off, the new nail beneath it may not look so healthy that's because it started to grow beneath another nail, so it was never able to fully develop. Not to worry. As the nail continues to grow, it should return to its regular appearance.

Well, what do you do while you're waiting for the nail to grow out? Most people are unhappy that their toenail is not appearing like the others, especially when they're wearing sandals and open-toed shoes. But there are solutions and some are better than others. What some people do is get an #AcrylicNail put on the toe. I do not recommend this. Acrylics are not meant for toenails. They're not flexible and when there's pressure from wearing shoes, they can dig into the toe, cause an ingrown toenail, and lead to an infection. The acrylic nail is also damaging the new nail growing beneath it. It's non-porous and essentially suffocates the nail beneath it.

A better choice is using a cosmetic solution that is safe to use on the toenails and doesn't damage the new nail growing in. This is a procedure called #Keryflex. Keryflex is a cosmetic nail system that gives you a nice looking nail while your natural nail is recovering. It's made from a keratin resin, the same material that your toenail is made from, and that makes it flexible and porous. The flexibility of the Keryflex will prevent it from digging into your toe, preventing it from forming into an ingrown toenail. Because it's porous, it won't suffocate or damage the new nail growing beneath it. Keryflex is used in our office for both women and men who wish to have a nice appearing toenail after their own nail has been damaged.

00:00 Introduction
01:13 What Happens When You Hit Your Toenail
02:17 How to Relieve Bleeding Beneath the Toenail
03:08 How the Toenail Recovers from Trauma
04:30 How to Improve the Appearance of the Toenail after Trauma
05:23 Using Keryflex to Improve the Appearance of the Toenail
07:00 How to Work with Houston Podiatrist Dr. Andrew Schneider

[loriennewbury]

Thank you Dr.Schneider! I was really freaked out when I saw my toe nail pulling up and a new one underneath. Such a relief to know it is all apart of the natural healing process.

[coolaj]

I kicked my toe full force into a hardwood dresser a few days ago and after the rest of the toe regained its normal color, the blister was all the way past the toenail and the toenail felt like it was just kinda floating on top. I just put a pin at the edge and squeezed it out and it immediately feels so much better. I hope it fully reattaches.

[RobynGermaine]

9 months, thank you! Best video so far on this topic I have found. All my questions answered!

[couchpotato]

Great video! Turns out my mom has been abusing me all these years forcing me into tiny shoes. Now my nails are tiny, thick, and buried in skin. I hate her sm for so many things but glad to have my answers.

[elizapopperwell]

Thanks. You are the clearest/most informative person I've seen to date re feet. Pleased to hear there is a "fake nail" solution to deal with unacceptable looks of a nail if it comes to it. I'm in my 70's - but I still want to find the appearance of my toenails is acceptable to me and have been feeling very concerned at knowing that (for the second time in my life) I've had to have a partial nail avulsion on one of my big toenails (I'm told it's curved - and that's why it's started hurting me again all these years after the first time I had it done. I live in a part of the country (ie West Wales, UK) which feels a lot like "back of beyond" and looks/health standard accepted here seem to be lower than where I'm from (city in southern England) - but my own standards have stayed the same as my normal. I had to be "rather firm" to ensure it was only the sides of that nail removed and not the whole nail - and make it plain I'm hoping I'll still have a cosmetically acceptable appearance and that is what I've just had done and it's recovering now. Keeping my fingers crossed that it's appearance will still be acceptable to me once it heals up - but at least I know there is another option out there and I can "argue" for it if need be.

[effeo]

Excellent explanation! Good pace and impeccable clarity.

[adriana]

I damage my toenail 50 years ago and now it really hurts. Is something that can be done?

[aliciawrona]

Thank you for this information explained so clearly and relieved me of my anxiety as well. Thank you . Thank you . 😊

[robinellis-zjmr]

What if the nail has lifted from the toe, nut still grows out? It never fell off and there is literally a space between the nail and nail bed? Can this be fixed?

[moonlightstarzx]

I actually damaged my nail due to tight shoes and its 5 days now and i tried cleaning under the nail but then suddenly it is somehow leaking a liquid substance and some blood

[audes.]

Hey Dr... what if I haven't caused any of the trauma you've mentioned to my toe, but bleeding "suddenly" appears under my toe nail? TIA

[melanie.vallejo]

hey doc, I lost my left toenail years ago when I was trying to clean the residue underneath the nail with a nail tool but accidentally poked the nail bed & started bleeding underneath & I used nail cutters to cut the nail to see what type of trauma I had. I ended up cutting it too short & ever since then I ended up with a thicker abnormal shape toenail compared to my right big toenail. Eventually my left big toenail came off when I took it off with the tool I used. How can I make my toenail a normal thinner shape like my right toenail?
I’ve had this problem for 7 yrs & tbh it always grows back thicker or grows to an odd shape. I miss my normal looking toenail 🥺😔

[deborahthompson]

Thank you, Dr. Schneider. I had my large toenail removed and I am waiting for it to grow out. I hope the true color comes back as you stated. right now, it's dark brown. I realized everyone recovery may not be the same. Thank you for your information. I am going to review your other video titled What to do about a black toenail. I have others that are turning black. My podiatrist said I do not have any fungus. I agree they are just turning black. No pain or pressure. Any suggestions? Thank you.

[SimbyDimby]

I messed up my big toe nails from snowboarding and climbing, and it took me ages to find this video which actually has information! I will just slowly clip away at it when possible then.

What do you think of putting cotton wool under the edge to avoid ingrowing? Is that necessary?

[Cromsoc]

My toenails started to fall off after runs recently, starting with the big toes first. So painful but I can’t seem to figure it out.

[polyborah]

"The same injury can happen by wearing tight shoes" - Yes, that's exactly my case. It was paining in the start but now its not but the colour of the nail is changing like a very light purplish and a small inversely curved spot is forming oh the mid of my nail. The spot is dark pinkish but has little dots in black. I think the spot will turn black gradually. Will it be okay. There is no pain now though and i can walk properly. But if I put a lil bit of pressure on top of the nail it pains a little bit, very very little. Will it be back to normal and if so in how many months. Are there anything that i can do at home to make the healing process faster. Like putting coconut oil and washing my toes with hot saltwater ?

[emanuelegelati]

Is there in Europe a similar product as the Keryflex?

[kennedyvincent]

I recently did the dumbest thing I think I’ve ever done in my life. I got acrylic put on my two big toes for my graduation in May. I let the nail grow out because it’s summertime so I’m mostly wearing sandals. We are now in June, and for whatever reason I forgot to cut my acrylic toenails off. Two days ago I was invited to go play pickle ball, and I went and stubbed my toenail in my shoe so many times I had to stop playing. It hurt so badly. Currently my toenail is blue and my toe around the perimeter of my toenail is red and swollen. The pain is extremely bad and occasionally I feel a burning sensation. The pain is solely on my right big toe. I went to the doctor and she prescribed me antibiotics, but for some reason, I’m in denial that I have an infection.I’ve been taking antibiotics for two days and I’m not seeing any changes. I’m supposed to be done taking these after five days. If anything, my toe is getting worse. What should I do? Please help!

For context on why I got the acrylic on my big toe: This was my first time getting acrylic on my toes ever and my reasoning is because I played college tennis and I stubbed my natural nail a few months ago and broke a piece of it off while playing so I decided to get the acrylic to close that gap.

[mariarosa]

what is the best way to grow the toenail?

[mskat]

Hit my big toe on heel of my other foot. Dang it was painful. Holding on by a thread. Very painful & hate the idea of removing it rest of the way. Broke toes before & set myself. Watching to see how to remove & treat