Anyone? I'm about to lose mine. What's it like?

2/19/2006 8:22:15 PM

oooo, you nasty.

2/19/2006 8:24:31 PM

my sister did, her thumb was all bandage from being slammed in something, we were playing and grabbed at her hand and ended up pulling the bandage of, her nail was in it...didn't seem to hurt her

2/19/2006 8:25:48 PM

lost 2 toenails twice. tennis and lateral movement puts a lot of pressure on toes. no worries. 90 percent chance it comes back (something like that)

2/19/2006 8:26:30 PM

i went minus one toenail earlier this academic year... i've got about half of it back now. (i busted it on some stairs causing it to become ingrown & required removal) takes a little over a year to return to normal for the big toes toenail. i think i fingernail might be easier to deal with because theres really no way to avoid walking with a foot, putting on shoes & socks, or the pains of showering... but a finger would be easier to avoid using. also i'm guessing just because a fingernail has less ground to cover than it would grow back faster.

is this going to be on the hand your write with?

2/19/2006 8:32:29 PM

lost a few toenails to ballet and i have them all now

2/19/2006 8:35:01 PM

Yeah it's on (or off) my right thumb, which is the one I write with. Right now it's soaking in saltwater in hops of the small chance it reattaches to the nail bed, as per doc's orders.

2/19/2006 8:43:41 PM

They all grew back.

2/19/2006 8:46:52 PM

I lost one off my index finger but when it came off there was another nail underneath it. You'd have to see my finger to understand what I'm talking about.

2/19/2006 8:48:30 PM

What's really gross is when you have the dead one still attached to your finger and the new one is growing in and you have to wait for it to push the dead one off because you're too chicken to take it off yourself but you wouldn't be in this situation if you were smart enough to keep your fingers out of slamming car doors you FOOL.

2/19/2006 8:50:43 PM

Does it hurt after it falls off? if so, for how long? And what happens to the skin underneath?

2/19/2006 8:51:26 PM

does anybody have experience with big toe nails? my friend took antibiotics to clear any infection, but the nail is still thick and seems detached... is there anything else he can do except for watch it fall off and wait over a year for it to grow back?

2/19/2006 8:55:51 PM

It was actually playing with my dog. I had one of his toys in my hand and he was playin tug-of-war. He let go and when he tried to grab the toy again my thumb got in the way and his top front teeth went right betwen my thumb and thumbnail and bent it 2/3 of the way back. No, it wasn't malicious and it wasn't my dog's fault. It was just one of those freak accidents that ended in the worst pain I've ever experienced, a good bit of blood, and a trip to the SHC.

2/19/2006 9:00:38 PM

it just feels weird to juts have the skin with no nail, eventually youll have like 1/3 of a nail and then it looks weird too =/

2/19/2006 9:17:52 PM

i was told to do saltwater soaks while the nail was still on & ingrown, but post removal they had me do antibacterial soap in warm water soaks, which were more pleasant and helpful.

"does anybody have experience with big toe nails? my friend took antibiotics to clear any infection, but the nail is still thick and seems detached... is there anything else he can do except for watch it fall off and wait over a year for it to grow back?"

Student health has a specific doctor who does toenail removals if he wanted to get that part out of the way. It might be easier to clean things out without the nail there. The waiting over a year isn't so bad, after a few weeks the extra sensitivity is pretty much gone, and then its more like having a bad haircut... it doesn't look great, but its not a serious problem, and you can always wear a hat.

The doctors name starts with an R, maybe Rushings? Its like $40 which is alot cheaper than you'll find it anywhere else. Since I haven't had anything similar done anywhere else though I can't really offer a good quality comparison.

2/19/2006 9:46:01 PM

^ he's in graduate school somewhere else, but thanks for the tip
I figured all he can do is sit and wait... but of course nobody wants to be toenail-less for over a year... especially if it's both of your big toes

2/19/2006 11:16:51 PM

i ran over my finger and the nail was ripped right off. now its grown back and you can't tell.

howevery i do warn you, it was some of the worst pain of my childhood. especially when i ran cold water over the open wound to wash away some of the blood. Even worse pain when the ER bandaged it up and when i came to remove the bandage the flesh was stuck to it and i had to rip it off.

2/19/2006 11:23:33 PM

i was moving my futon out of the dorm a few years back and had it come slamming down the stairs... my big toe stopped it.

it hurt like a bitch for the first few weeks, but i just bandaged it and let it alone. took a year to grow back in.

even if you permanently damaged the nail bed and it can't grow back, chances are that area will become desensitized to pressure and motion and you'll be fine.

2/20/2006 12:02:06 AM

Yeah, once its not desensitized its not that big a deal. Looks a little strange, but still doesn't stand out much. I've known people to have reoccuring ingrown toenails who have the doctors intentionally try to stop it from regrowing.

2/20/2006 12:13:39 AM

Over the summer I was in a pretty bad car wreck... My hand got pretty F'ed up.

Three fingernails on my right hand got ripped off by the pavement, they all grew back but the look a little funny and grow back a little discolored and disfigured.

2/20/2006 11:05:22 AM

I've smashed a few fingernails off, though I've never lost one entirely. They all grew back fine.

2/20/2006 5:06:03 PM