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So yesterday I had to get the toenail on my big toe removed for the second time. The first time I had tried to cut out an ingrown toenail (which I've successfully done in the past) but accidentally cut myself on the side of the toe just under the nail and it got infected. Left it that way for a good two months (treating it at home with warm water and epsom salt so the infection didn't manage to spread) until I went to the doctor who promptly removed the nail. Six months later the nail started to grow into the toe again so I had to get the nail removed again. Hopefully it will grow back correctly but if it doesn't I'll have to get it cauterized. Hurts like a bitch but at least I'm on vicodin.

Anyone else here have similar problems?

D:

Oh gods that sucks. Couldn't they put some sort of device in there to make sure the nail grows properly?

Sounds really painful :o

There's a procedure called a matrixectomy, where they will deaden the root of the nail on the side where it's growing so that it will grow relatively normally.

scythe wrote:D:

Oh gods that sucks. Couldn't they put some sort of device in there to make sure the nail grows properly?

Not really. Normal regrowth of the nail is purely based on luck and unicorn wishes.

Kablizzy wrote:There's a procedure called a matrixectomy, where they will deaden the root of the nail on the side where it's growing so that it will grow relatively normally.

I looked this up, and while it seems like might have worked for the first time this happened six months ago, this time the nail had only partially regrown and the nail was digging into the toe at an odd angle so I don't think the procedure would've really done much.

Yeah, I got this problem too. So over the blood and pus. :/

I assume that if you don't clip your toenails to as-short-as-possible, and instead only keep them reasonable, you're at less risk for this issue. I'm not totally sure, but that's what I've always done, and I've never had this problem. Anecdotes!

Aidiera wrote:

Spoiler.

I had on my right big toe about a year ago. The root of my nail was lasered off and it took like two months for the nail to grow back but I haven't had any problems with it since.

hairscapades wrote:

Aidiera wrote:

Spoiler.

I had on my right big toe about a year ago. The root of my nail was lasered off and it took like two months for the nail to grow back but I haven't had any problems with it since.

Spoiler.

That's not a fucking spoiler, you idiot.

I guess he was looking to protect the squeamish? Coulda picked a better title than 'spoiler'.

scythe wrote:

hairscapades wrote:

Aidiera wrote:

Spoiler.

I had on my right big toe about a year ago. The root of my nail was lasered off and it took like two months for the nail to grow back but I haven't had any problems with it since.

Spoiler.

That's not a fucking spoiler, you idiot.

I guess he was looking to protect the squeamish? Coulda picked a better title than 'spoiler'.

I guess. I don't think too many of you want to hear that. And "Pink fuzzy kittens" would not have gotten clicked. So I chose to be blatantly obvious.

Last Halloween, a friend of mine smashed the nail of my big toe into the toe. I ended up walking on it for a good two hours afterward. When I got home, I took my shoe off, and the top half of my sock was completely red. I didn't go to a doctor or anything - instead, I drew a hot bath and tore pieces of nail from deep inside the walls of my toe using a nail-fetcher, then squeezed the black and yellow pus out to prevent an infection, or prevent it from getting worse. After that, you could clearly see my toe pulsating, blood leaking out from where the nail shrapnel had been removed. I stuck it underneath the running water to cauterize the wounded flesh, dried it off, then went to sleep with my foot sticking out of the blanket to let my toe air out.

Anyway, it's still bruised and infected, and the toenail grows out on top of the dead toenail, which is purple. Don't perform surgery on yourself unless you're trained to do so. This was a bad idea.

EDIT: Ingrown toenail? I've never had one.

Yahoozy wrote:Last Halloween, a friend of mine smashed the nail of my big toe into the toe. I ended up walking on it for a good two hours afterward. When I got home, I took my shoe off, and the top half of my sock was completely red. I didn't go to a doctor or anything - instead, I drew a hot bath and tore pieces of nail from deep inside the walls of my toe using a nail-fetcher, then squeezed the black and yellow pus out to prevent an infection, or prevent it from getting worse. After that, you could clearly see my toe pulsating, blood leaking out from where the nail shrapnel had been removed. I stuck it underneath the running water to cauterize the wounded flesh, dried it off, then went to sleep with my foot sticking out of the blanket to let my toe air out.

Anyway, it's still bruised and infected, and the toenail grows out on top of the dead toenail, which is purple. Don't perform surgery on yourself unless you're trained to do so. This was a bad idea.

That's... horrifying. Perhaps you should have put it in a spoiler.

capt_weasle wrote:I looked this up, and while it seems like might have worked for the first time this happened six months ago, this time the nail had only partially regrown and the nail was digging into the toe at an odd angle so I don't think the procedure would've really done much.

Mine was too. My toenail basically looked like the Arby's glove, you had the nail and then a gap, and then a chunk of nail jutting off to the side, and they just deadened that entire side, and after taking care of it for a few weeks thereafter, it's been fine.

Yahoozy wrote:Last Halloween, a friend of mine smashed the nail of my big toe into the toe. I ended up walking on it for a good two hours afterward. When I got home, I took my shoe off, and the top half of my sock was completely red. I didn't go to a doctor or anything - instead, I drew a hot bath and tore pieces of nail from deep inside the walls of my toe using a nail-fetcher, then squeezed the black and yellow pus out to prevent an infection, or prevent it from getting worse. After that, you could clearly see my toe pulsating, blood leaking out from where the nail shrapnel had been removed. I stuck it underneath the running water to cauterize the wounded flesh, dried it off, then went to sleep with my foot sticking out of the blanket to let my toe air out.

Anyway, it's still bruised and infected, and the toenail grows out on top of the dead toenail, which is purple. Don't perform surgery on yourself unless you're trained to do so. This was a bad idea.

EDIT: Ingrown toenail? I've never had one.

You think maybe you should go see a doctor?

squibbles wrote:Yeah, I got this problem too. So over the blood and pus. :/

Likewise. I'm going to see the foot docter on Tuesday, for the fifth time, so he can cut off the outward-facing side of my ingrown, big toes' toenails. Last time I visited he cut away the inward-facing side of my big toes' toenails.

Shit sucks.