topic Re: toenail avulsion in Wellness

toenail avulsion

CatsyCline — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 23:00:03 GMT

has anyone ever had a toenal avulsion? when they remove the entire nail?

Re: toenail avulsion

scotnovel — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 23:14:52 GMT

I have not had the actual procedure done. However, I do have a toenail that separates from the nail bed and falls off completely every so often. In my case, the area remains sore for only a few days since there is no actual wound. After that I don't even notice unless I happen to stub that toe. Obviously I can't wear polish and it does take months for the nail to grow back. I don't know if that helps at all.

Re: toenail avulsion

Kachina624 — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 23:43:00 GMT

Yes, I let some podiatrist talk me into removing a left big toenail years ago. What did you want to know?

Re: toenail avulsion

nana59 — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 23:53:28 GMT

Ewwww......think I'd rather have a root canal........

Re: toenail avulsion

Tabbycat — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:14:17 GMT

@CatsyCline .... Yes, I had both big toenails totally removed back in the mid 80's. I suffered for years with painfull, infected, ingrown toenails. Just make sure your doc uses the product ( not sure what it is called ) that will kill the root so parts won't grow back. Mine did and I could not be happier.

I wouldn't take a million dollars to have them back ... and that's the truth!!!!

It may be EWWWWWW to some, but obviously they do not suffer. When yur feet hurt you hurt all over.

Re: toenail avulsion

CatsyCline — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:15:22 GMT

@Kachina624 i had a big toenail removed and the 4th toenail on my left foot. i had a bad onychomycosis. its been 3 weeks now and the big tonail is healing fine but the smaller toenail is very sensitive and sore. i have seen my doctor 2 times already and he said it isnt infected but i think it is. a lot was removed (it was 100% involved onychomycosis) there was no nail anymore.

i am so embarassed about this. it was my decison to have this done. i soak in Hibiclens, apply peroxide, apply betadine, mupiricin and gauze bandages. Dr told me to just use betadine and a bandaid. its not healing ?!? i see there is a nail growing back on my big toe. the otehr one nothing. is this overkill?

anyone? i know there are RNs on here too ! thank you

Re: toenail avulsion

CatsyCline — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:17:19 GMT

thank you @Tabbycat :-)

Re: toenail avulsion

Kachina624 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:24:20 GMT

@ashleigh Dupree I don't know what onychomycosis is but I had mine removed because I continously had an ingrown toenail. He killed the nailed so it never grew back. It just looks sort of shriveled. I have otherwise nice-looking feet so I decided to heck with it and wear sandals anyway.

Re: toenail avulsion

CatsyCline — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:53:01 GMT

@Kachina624 my foot doctor sells nail polishes to wear if there is no nail. if my nails don't grow back i guess i can try them. i'm almost certain the big toe still has the root.

Re: toenail avulsion

Kachina624 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 01:05:08 GMT

I've tried nail polish but it doesn't adhere to skin very well and is soon gone. I figure it's better not to draw attention to it with polish.

Re: toenail avulsion

circles — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 01:14:12 GMT

May I asked how the doctor removed the large toe nail...did he use anything to kill the pain...or just have at it...

My doctor suggested I let him remove the nail.....he said he would just yank it out...which scared the heck out of me...

He is not the most delicate man I have ever had...he cuts my toe nails every nine or ten weeks...and checks my feet ...as i am diabetic 2....he is rough doing that...

Re: toenail avulsion

CatsyCline — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 01:40:53 GMT

@circles i saw Dr had bent angle scissors on his tray, beforehand. but my doctor did not let me see what he was using. he had the nurse put up a screen so i could only see him from the neck up

he used a topical spray to numb my toes and had to wait about a 1/2 hour. then he injected novocaine in the two toes. i could feel pressure of something (the needle) but it did not hurt. then i had to wait some more.

after another 30 minutes he finally said i was numb enough and did the two toe procedures. after the novocaine wore off there was some pain. it was at night when it wore off and it felt like very painful frostbite and i took 2 advils every 4 hours for two days and i still have some slight bruising all along the base of my foot by the toes. after 3 weeks!

i would say do not have your doctor yank the nail out!! with novocaine you won't feel it. maybe get a 2nd doctor to take a look. my doctor is a foot/ankle specialist . he is nice but he is very busy and not the hand holding type.

Re: toenail avulsion

BLUEFLOWER66 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 02:12:57 GMT

I work in a hospital with a podiatrist and asked him to look at my feet. He trimmed my nails and did a few other things to my feet. He pulled off both socks and showed me his feet where he had removed all of his toenails. He said he wouId rather not deal with them. I was very suprised. I am considering having mine done too. I am getting ingrown nails.

Re: toenail avulsion

ritasNo1Fan — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 02:34:21 GMT

Count me in. I had a continual infected ingrown nail. Oh! the pain. My dr. gave me an injection between my toes which took away the feeling/pain. I watched that blasted nail being removed. No more ingrown nail EVER. Now the toe skin has toughened where the nail was. It isn't bad looking and mainly there is NO PAIN. Don't hesitate. Do it now.

Re: toenail avulsion

Kachina624 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 03:01:46 GMT

@circles wrote:
May I asked how the doctor removed the large toe nail...did he use anything to kill the pain...or just have at it...

My doctor suggested I let him remove the nail.....he said he would just yank it out...which scared the heck out of me...

He is not the most delicate man I have ever had...he cuts my toe nails every nine or ten weeks...and checks my feet ...as i am diabetic 2....he is rough doing that...

@circles Its has probably been 30 years since I had it done and I don't remember much about it, which means I wasn't traumatized. I'm sure he used a painkiller. Someone who wouldn't is a sadist.. Run circles, run!

Re: toenail avulsion

Lucky Charm — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 03:53:10 GMT

As a teenager, I had ingrown toenails (both big toes) and one summer I had a surgery that the doctor sort of *reset* the side edges of both toenails. It worked!

My big toenails used to be much wider and now they aren't. Hard to explain. No scars, can't even tell.

I'm always told when I get pedicures that I have *full* nails on my toes. Even my pinky toe is like a pinky fingernail. I don't know if that's a good thing.

Re: toenail avulsion

circles — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 05:06:31 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
@circles wrote:
May I asked how the doctor removed the large toe nail...did he use anything to kill the pain...or just have at it...

My doctor suggested I let him remove the nail.....he said he would just yank it out...which scared the heck out of me...

He is not the most delicate man I have ever had...he cuts my toe nails every nine or ten weeks...and checks my feet ...as i am diabetic 2....he is rough doing that...
@circles Its has probably been 30 years since I had it done and I don't remember much about it, which means I wasn't traumatized. I'm sure he used a painkiller. Someone who wouldn't is a sadist.. Run circles, run!

Thanks Kachina624....I almost did run the day he said he would do it as I sat there...but i said no..not at this time...

Re: toenail avulsion

Psalm23 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 06:05:09 GMT

Hi. I have psoriasis which attacked my toenails. I couldn't wear any closed toe shoes and most days it hurt to walk. After years of pain, I asked my derm if there wasn't anything that could be done. He said the only option was to have my toenails permanently removed-- roots and all. I found a wonderful podiatrist and we did them in 2 sessions. He let me pick which ones I wanted done first. Obviously I picked the ones that hurt the worst, which just happened to be both big toes. Nope, didn't know they help you balance and didn't do just one foot at a time (wouldn't recommend that approach). He gave me locals in each toe, just a little sting but not as bad as the novacaine shot at the dentist. The procedure wasn't bad. I even watched him do the first one. I wouldn't recommend that as it is a little gross. But I drove myself home afterward, just had to be careful applying the brake. But doing 5 at a time, yeah the recovery was slow and a little painful and took quite awhile before I was walking normally and back in shoes. Had to shuffle around for a while, but I still went back and had the other 5 done just as soon as the first five healed. This was almost 25 years ago and still is one of the best health decisions I ever made. I don't polish my toes as it's just skin but I do wear sandals all the time. No one even notices--even my best friend didn't notice until we were talking about it one day about 5 years into our friendship. It's not a procedure for everyone, but if you are truly in pain or have persistent issues, it can definitely be a beneficial procedure.

Re: toenail avulsion

Mindy D — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 18:10:52 GMT

When I was much younger I wanted to be a doctor and considered podiatry. I worked in a one person podiatry office and did all the surgical preparation and assistance as well as telephone follow up calls to each patient. I will say that some people experience throbbing in the great toe after this procedure. It usually happens at night. Even though the nail root is removed there are many nerves in the area. A podiatrist will use anesthetic to do the avulsion. There are artificial toenails sold where you find artificial nails. These look nice if you want to wear open toed shoes for a special occasion. There are glue on and stick on versions. There was one poster who mentioned that her nails were narrowed to avoid ingrown nails. That is another option. The doctor in isles and removes nail and root along the sides of an affected nail, leaving the middle of the nail alone. This is another option you can ask your podiatrist about. There are photos of what the nails will look like after these procedures. The photos can be found on Google Images.