Not for the faint of heart...

[Martin Milner]

I did a similar thing with my thumb a few years ago. The pain is mostly due to the pressure of the blood (and other pleasantries) under the nail.

The doctor should be able to draw that out for you - one option is to drill a small hole through the nail to let the goop seep out.

I lost about half the nail on my thumb that time, but it grew back normally, except I get a little ridge along it at the point of most damage.

[gonzo914]

Save a sheep! Boycott Australian merino wool!
www.saveasheep.com

Lambie,

I tried following your link. Looks like it should be:

www.savethesheep.com

M

PS--I hardly ever take anything PETA says at face value. I just don't trust hysterical folks to do accurate reporting.

Ordinarily I take PETA with a grain of salt (and a little Worcestershire sauce), but when I see they have such intellectual heavy-weights as Alicia Silverstone rallying to their side, I have to give them more credence.

And to keep from straying to far afield from the original topic -- This thread would be more interesting, ennyn, if you you could post a picture of said toe in all its technicolor glory.

Then go see a doctor.

[Flyingcursor]

Yeah. A picture of the toe sounds cool. Either that or we're going to have to go rotton.com

[izzarina]

This is *so* not good. I can't even wear 3/4 of my shoes!!!!!!!!!

Ad, that is just absolutely horrifying!!!!! I don't know how you are doing it, you poor, poor thing!....oh, and I am sorry that you hurt your toe too
Seriously, I would soak your foot (and hence your toe) in Epsom Salt, and if it gets worse call your doctor. The Epsom salts will help to get some of the icky stuff out. But it just sounds gross....your talking about it gives me the Heebie Jeebies too (and yes, I agree, that is just a perfectly wonderful phrase....I use it whenever I can)
But please, no matter what the BOYS are saying, don't post a picture. That just sounds so yucky
Thank goodness for your insurance, btw. Isn't it nice to feel like a real person in this country?

[Tyghress]

I've had a nail fall off. By the time it gives up the ghost its not a big deal. DON'T go poking under there! DON'T. PERIOD. DON'T.

And hang tight....there IS a podiatrist around here somewhere. . .

[avanutria]

Don't be heebie jeebed though.

But isn't it the best phrase to say, though? I mean, how often does one get to say "heebie-jeebies"??

In the Nintendo game "Super Mario 3" there's a level with some clouds with red swirls in them. They looked decidedly odd. My friends and I called them "heebie jeebie clouds".

[avanutria]

The doctor should be able to draw that out for you - one option is to drill a small hole through the nail to let the goop seep out.

That bit gave ME the heebie-jeebies.

My big toenail used to get discoloured regularly after a long day of skiing - too much pressure from the boot plus cold, I think. It tended to stay put till it grew out, then the unnecessary bit would come off painlessly. Time frame, a couple of months.

I believe BrewerPaul is the resident Chiffy podiatrist.

[Tyler]

[Thank goodness for your insurance, btw. Isn't it nice to feel like a real person in this country?

Yeah, and even when you do have insurance, they care so much about you!
When I want results out of my insurance I have to dress up like Chewbacca, go down to their main office and speak in a series of grunts and howls so that they can understand me, and threaten to pull someones arm out of their socket.

[Cynth]

The pain is mostly due to the pressure of the blood (and other pleasantries) under the nail. The doctor should be able to draw that out for you - one option is to drill a small hole through the nail to let the goop seep out.

The doctor should be able to draw that out for you - one option is to drill a small hole through the nail to let the goop seep out.

Okay, I guess I must have the heebie jeebies now too. This goes way beyond the willies.

[Flyingcursor]

Where's our resident podiatrist????

A google image search on "infected toenail" proved.....interesting.

[Tyler]

A google image search on "infected toenail" proved.....interesting.

probably brought up a death metal band or something...

[jsluder]

I lost two fingernails (in separate incidents) as a child. I lost one after accidentally slamming a fingertip in a car door while trying to run away from a bumblebee, and another after having a fingertip smooshed under a heavy barrel I was trying to move. (Fortunately, I outgrew the fear of bumblebees. Barrels still give me the heebie-jeebies, though.)

The first time, the pressure from the blood under the nail was so bad that the doctor drilled a tiny hole in the nail... and promptly got sprayed with blood all over his face and white lab coat.

The second time, the blood was able to escape on its own, so the pressure never built up. In both cases, the nail eventually fell off and then a new one grew out. Now, I can't even remember which fingernails I lost, and there's nothing on the nails to give me any hints.

[izzarina]

A google image search on "infected toenail" proved.....interesting.

I can only imagine. Just don't post any of the pictures, ok?

[Will O'B]

This is *so* not good. I can't even wear 3/4 of my shoes!!!!!!!!!

If you're like most of the women I used to work with, that should only leave you with about 100 pairs of shoes.

Seriously, though. You certainly have my sympathies, Ad. My son just went through outpatient surgery a couple of weeks ago. Both of his big toes were infected on both sides of each toe. He claims he has very sensitive feet and he did a terrible job of keeping them properly trimmed. The podiatrist knocked him out and cut off a large portion of the nail all the way down both sides of the nails. He had to wash them 3 times a day with peroxide after that, but now they look (and feel he says) much better. There is only a 1% chance that the nails will grow back -- which is fine with him. Anyway, the moral of this story is: Visit Your Doctor.

Will O'Ban

[Scott McCallister]

You have a hema-tomata! That's what my brother the ER nurse said everybody called them as it would be written on the triage board as Hematoma - Toe.

He sad that the most common way to relieve the pain was in fact to lance the nail... not with a drill but with an electric disposable coterie. Burned a tiny slit in the nail about as wide as a needle and as long as a pinhead is across... Then a band-aid and Neosporin and your good to go!

That will be $389.00 please pay on your way out.

He also said the same could be done with a paperclip and a candle for the truly brave an skinflinty - like myself. (holding the paperclip with a set of pliers of course)