Toenail trauma is mainly caused by if you hit your toenail on something or if your toe gets stepped on. And you may notice a darkness beneath your toenail. Sometimes the nails start to lift off the nail bed. This is because of bleeding under the toenail.
The blood gets between the skin and the underside of the toenail and there is nowhere to go. Therefore, This can cause dark spots under the toenails and pain. If this happens, you should get it checked by a podiatrist.
Runners and other athletes sometimes have trauma as well. This is from the repetitive pressure of the nail hitting the end or the top of the shoe. Sometimes this repetitive micro trauma will lead to the nail thickening.
How to relieve bleeding under the toenail
It’s a simple process to relieve the pressure caused by bleeding under the nail. Dr. Andrew Schneider performs a painless procedure where he makes small holes in the toenail. This allows the blood to drain from under the nail.
When you do this procedure 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 don’t have to put holes in the toenail to access the blister through the end of the toenail and allow it to drain. Even after draining the blood or blister from under the nail, the toenail will likely be stained underneath.
How the toenail recover from trauma
At this point, maybe several things will happen. If you do the treatment and are successful in saving the toenail, the nail will just grow out.
The darkened part of the nail will reach the end and you just clip it. The same goes for those little holes. It takes about nine months for a great toenail to regrow. For the other toenail, it will take about six months.
Sometimes, if the injury is more severe, the nail will separate from the nail bed and a new nail will start to grow under it. If this happens, it will look like the nail is thick.
When the new nail progresses far enough, the top nail will loosen and ultimately come off. When this happens, it easily comes off with no bleeding and no pain. There is no reason to go to the hospital unless there is pain, bleeding, or pus when the nail comes off.
Improve the appearance of the toenail after trauma
What to do while waiting for the nail to grow out?
- Firstly Most people wear sandals and open-toed shoes
- Acrylic nail
Some people do put an acrylic nail on the toe. Drs don’t recommend this. Acrylic is not meat for toenails. Besides, they are not flexible, and when there is pressure from wearing shoes. And they can dig into the toe. Furthermore, it can cause an ingrown toenail, and lead to an infection too. The acrylic nail is also damaging the new nail growing beneath it as well.
Cosmetic solution keryflex
There is a better choice and that is to use a cosmetic solution. This is safe to use on the toenails and does not damage the new nail growth.
The procedure is called keryflex. In addition, Keryflex is a cosmetic nail system that gives you a nice nice-looking nail while your natural nail is recovering. It’s made from a keratin resin the same material that your toenails are made from. This is flexible. The flexibility of the keyflex will prevent it from digging into your toe, preventing it from forming into an ingrown toenail.
Moreover, A lot of times the nail may look like it has a fungal infection. You can do a test on the nail to see if it’s thickened due to fungus or reacting to the toenail trauma.
In the first place you have injured your toenail, it’s best to get it checked. If you address it early it can present lasting problems with the toenail.
Source: tanglewoodfootspecialists
