Eeurgh!

[Beanie]

Warning, this is gross.
So after my epic fall several weeks ago, my black eye is gone and almost all the swelling has gone away (nobody else would know it but me), elbow is no longer bruised, and my knee and shoulder are almost completed healed. There's just a small bit of scabbing on my knee still, none at all on my shoulder.

BUT.
I put nail polish on right after I fell because I also somehow bruised a toenail reeeeally bad and I didn't want to have to look at all the blood under my nail. I just took the nail polish off a few nights ago and it really didn't look too bad. Still bloody underneath, but the nail never fell off like I was terrified it would. Last night I trimmed my toenails, that one included.

NOW it looks bad. It doesn't appear to be attached at the side of the toe anymore. About half the nail is white, like your nails get at the tips.
Ew ew ew ew ew. How can this be?? Almost four weeks later, really?! I don't know if I should try and put a bandaid over it or what. Try and trim it way back (EUGH!)? Just leave it and hope for the best...?

Grossness. I like my toenails ON my toes. That is where they belong. >=|

[PlottMom]

I have nothing to add except that I shuddered just reading this. I am terrified of anything having to do with my feet (diabetes will do that to you, but I understand it's actually pretty common to not like having anyone near your feet, go figure!) so good luck!!!

[Emily]

BLLLEEEERGGGHHHHHH

You warned me, I shouldn't have read - LOL. Nails falling off just freaks me out to no end. I, um, would just leave it be, but watch it carefully? The body is pretty good at healing itself, usually, but of course you don't want the dead nail to get snagged on anything.

I would have done EXACTLY what you did and just never looked at it, LOL. Yiiiiick. You have my deepest sympathies and I hope somebody else can be more helpful.

[Beanie]

Toenails falling off is like... my biggest concern as a runner. I seriously freak out if I do anything to my toes, like "OMG IT'S GOING TO FALL OFF NOOOO!" Ugh ugh ugh ugh. It's never happened yet and I thought I'd avoided it this time, but now I"m freaking out again. X_X

I have one of those soft toe and finger foam wrap things, I slid that over it. It doesn't really stay put well, but at least it has SOME protection... ughughghuguhhhuguhh

[drmom777]

Ugh is right.

But, you know, there is a bright spot. When my daughter, Rachel, was a little girl, she dropped something on her toe, and it became obvious the nail was going to fall off. She was horrified, and then my husband told her that when it did, if she put it under her pillow the fingernail fairy would come and take it away and bring her money.

Unfortunately, the toenail actually fell off in a swimming pool, and we had to spend at least an hour diving and searching for the disgusting thing. I thought it was a waste of time because I did not believe in the fingernail fairy. We did finally find it at the bottom of the pool (and a bunch of other unpleasant things as well).

Lo and behold, that night Rachel left it under her pillow and the fingernail fairy brought her five dollars. So the fingernail fairy must be real, and if it does fall off there is money in it for you. As long as you don't lose it. Now don't you feel better?

[Shai]

Sounds like it's going to at least partially fall off...in which case it's better IMO to just trim back anything loose and paint the skin or something to make it look like there's something there til the new nail grows in lol.

[RedHotDobe]

I dropped my wheel as I was wrestling it off the hub and slammed my right index finger between it and the rotor. I screamed in pain and couldn't bring myself to even look at it. Adam finally pulled my hand out from between my legs and there was a ginormous gash, lots of skin missing, and blood. Thankfully, my nail looked fine. A few days later, I realized I had pretty severely damaged my nail bed. My nail was growing in white. It kept growing, and I figured the white would just grow out and my nail would be normal. It was nearly halfway grown out when the unthinkable happened - the nail started separating from the skin underneath. It was indescribably gross, so rather than freaking out that my finger was repulsive, I showed it to everyone I knew and let them share in how disgusting it was.

My story really has no point, LOL. I managed to cut the disconnected part off. It didn't affect anything, just felt a bit weird for a little while.

[Beanie]

Hahaha Doc! Well I BETTER get money out of this...

OMG hahahaha. The toe is the one I didn't show anybody (except my mom) after it happened because that was the grossest part. I was telling some co-workers about it and mentioned the toe and both of them - both men - were like OH GOD AAAUGH EW EW STOP hahahahaha. Maybe now I should go around being like "HEY LOOK AT MY TOE!" XD

I'm not sure if there's an easy way to trim it off just yet... I think it would hurt more trying to remove it. I am terrified I'm going to do something stupid and it will rip off and hurt like a SOB.
AUGH this is soooo gross.

[RBark]

Lol I've only had a toenail fall off once in 10 years of running. *knock on wood*

It is pretty gross though lol.

[Red.Apricot]

I slammed my thumb in a car door a couple of years ago and lost the nail slowly (over the course of like a month, ew). I just kept it clipped short (from behind, which is where it died, gross), and kept it wrapped up with breathable tape while I was out and about, to keep it from getting snagged.

The nail is all grown back now, and other than having a weird texture and not being as clear as my other nails, it's fine.