Am I going to lose my finger nail? (Now with not that gross pics at post 18) (New photo added post 24ish)

[InsomniacInkRoss]

Who has closed there finger in a door/smashed it/etc etc?

 

I shut my thumb in a door a while ago, it turned pretty black low on the nail. I drained it once with a red hot paperclip per webmd. It looked and felt better right away. It has turned pretty black again but doesn't hurt much anymore. Should I have any concern on losing the nail? Will it just slowly grow out/get better? Anyone else have this happen?

[thebruce44]

I don't have an answer for you but just wanted to say that sounds awful.

 

I drained it once with a red hot paperclip per webmd.

 

Ugg...Did you do that to yourself?

[InsomniacInkRoss]

Yup, all by myself, glad I checked though, I was just gonna stab at it with a pin.

http://www.webmd.com/hw-p...-blood-from-under-a-nail

To remove blood from under a nail:

• Straighten a paper clip, and heat the tip in a
  flame until it is red-hot.
• Place the tip of the paper clip on the
  nail and let it melt through. There are no nerves in a nail, so putting a hot
  paper clip on a nail should not hurt.
• Do not push or apply pressure
  on the paper clip. There are nerves in the skin under the nail. You could
  accidentally touch the skin under the nail if pressure is applied to the
  nail.
• Go slowly, and reheat the clip as necessary. A thick nail may
  take several tries.
• As soon as the hole is complete, blood will
  escape and the pain will be relieved.
• Expect drainage of clear or
  slightly bloody fluid for 2 to 3 days.
• Soak the finger in warm,
  soapy water for 10 minutes, 3 times a day for 2 to 3 days.

You may repeat the procedure using the same hole. The pain and
pressure which is immediately relieved may build back up again in a few
days.

[JimH5]

My daughter's friend dropped something heavy on my daughter's big toe. It must have been a direct hit right on the toenail. It turned black, and never "got better". I guess that in the same way an adult tooth pushes a baby tooth up and out, a new toenail grew from the base, and the black toenail just sort of fell off.

 

Her toenail is now just fine.

 

We never drained the blood, nor did she complain much about it, after a couple of days of exaggerated limping.

[trwi7]

Not exactly the same experience, but I had my toenail shredded by a moving bike tire which ended up being removed with pliers or whatever to get stitches. You'll probably lose the nail, but it doesn't hurt when you do. It just keeps growing and it will eventually push the old nail out to make room for the new nail.

[InsomniacInkRoss]

I really can't grasp the losing a finger nail won't hurt.

[trwi7]

I really can't grasp the losing a finger nail won't hurt.

 

The new nail just pushes the old nail off. You can't feel it, in fact my nail came off when I was sleeping, didn't even notice it until a few minutes after I got up.

[logan82]

It won't hurt but the area where you lose the nail will be tender. I lost my pinky nail once and it took a long time to look normal again. Several months. I was a week before my nail fell off after I hit it.

 

By the way, when it is hanging half off don't go up to your wife and say "hey honey look at how my nail is just barely hanging on." She will think it is gross.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I dropped a tong of bricks on my big toe some years ago, and when I got home, I had a lot of swelling. I took a 1/8" drill bit, and really slowly by hand (just spinning the bit between forefinger and thumb) managed to drill through the nail and get the fluid out. Talk about relief.

 

About a week later, I could tell the nail felt 'hollow' underneath, as if it weren't attached, and sure enough, a few days later, I took off my shoe and the nail had come completely out. It's completely painless. You likely won't even know it's happened.

[InsomniacInkRoss]

I will keep people updated, haha.

 

Sadly, it takes a lot to gross my wife out, I have to try really hard. I don't think a hanging finger nail is gonna do it.

 

The interesting thing is that just the white area at the base of the nail and above the the cuticle (The Lunula) has turned black, the rest of my nail plate is "healthy." So we will see.

[trwi7]

Forgot to mention this, put a band-aid over it. When it happened to me, I hate wearing band-aids so I refused until it got caught on a blanket. Big mistake, so just keep it covered with a band-aid. Just cut the nail as you normally would and it should fall off in about a month.

 

It's going to grow really fast after that. Probably cover around halfway after 2 or 3 weeks and then it will slow down and grow normally again over the next 1-2 months. At least that's how it happened with me.

[davebobn]

I lost my pinky fingernail after smashing it in between to 45lb. weightlifting plates. It turned good and black, fell off, and eventually grew back. It looks a little different these days, but it's fine now. Though it did take quite a bit of time to grow back.

 

Take some pictures. I wanna see that thing!

[jazzytrav]

Unless you cauterize the bed of the nail, it will grow back. It may feel or look a bit different, but it'll be there. I've had both big toenails taken off...not a procedure I would suggest to anyone.

[JumpinMacFlash]

I smashed my finger between two large chunks of limestone a couple years ago while at work. My finger swelled up a lot and the nail was purple/black. I did what you did and whittled through the nail. It felt much better. Mine took three months to fall off, but when it did, the nail was completely grown underneath it.

[trwi7]

I've had both big toenails taken off...not a procedure I would suggest to anyone.

 

The worst part is when they freeze it and tell you you won't feel much. Maybe a little stinging and pressure. Wrong.

[Nottso]

Put it on eBay. The bidding from bf.netters alone would probably buy you a Happy Meal at the very least. Hell, I'm in for a buck-an'-a-quarter right now!

[Tailgat0r76]

I've had both big toenails taken off...not a procedure I would suggest to anyone.

 

The worst part is when they freeze it and tell you you won't feel much. Maybe a little stinging and pressure. Wrong.

I'm assuming the procedure is pretty much the same as getting ingrown toenails removed; and I would have to agree 100%. Even the freezing hurt like hell; getting 4 different needle injections into each big toe was one of the worst things I've ever had to go through (and I've had my eye's operated on twice...). And the whole time the doc is just trying to tell a lame story to keep your mind off the pain, and it doesn't work at all. Man, if I ever get ingrown toenails again, I may just head into depression.

[trwi7]

I'm assuming the procedure is pretty much the same as getting ingrown toenails removed; and I would have to agree 100%. Even the freezing hurt like hell

Yeah. I didn't mind the needles, I've never minded needles, they don't really bother me, so I was fine with that. I just wish they would've told me that the freezing wouldn't have made any difference. Here they are saying okay the freezing will work in about 5 minutes, you might feel a slight tug, but it won't hurt. So they come back in and I'm expecting to feel a tug and instead I have a pain that shoots from my toe up through my leg. I flinch and the doctor says "oh, does that hurt?" No, I flinched for no reason, moron.

 

[InsomniacInkRoss]

http://images.yuku.com/image/jpeg/65b15294822762ad4f0ca2c2f024fd1cc9a392d.jpg

 

You can see where I had drained it. Curious as to how it would fall off, if it does. There is some much healthy nail surrounding it. At about 3 weeks now, and the black is definitely moving up.

[trwi7]

That doesn't look that bad. A lot better than I expected it to look. I figured you slammed most of the nail in the door. I said you would probably lose your nail, I'm not sure sure anymore. If you say the black is moving up your nail it probably will fall off.

 

As to how it falls off, the new nail is growing in, it just lifts off the old nail. It doesn't hurt, there's not much you have to do with it if it does fall off. If part of the nail lifts up and doesn't come completely off right away, you'll have to trim it to keep it from catching on something, that's about it though.

[GAME05]

i knew eventually i'd have to come see what this thread was all about. too bad i missed the gross picture because the current one is really tame. from that it's debatable that you'd lose the nail at all, but i'm presuming the grosser picture eliminates that doubt. i've had blood underneath nails before and didn't lose the nail.

 

i'm a long-distance hiker, so i've lost a few toenails before. and i've heard that runners have it even worse for losing nails. ot, but i have a nail that's permanently dented after i slammed it in a door once.

[Mr QL]

I smashed my finger pretty bad in a door once when I slammed it, I thought i had actually broken it at the tip. Mine was all black though. I didn't really like the idea of sticking something through the finger nail so I went under it and it basically worked the same. The nail and skin were no longer attached because of the blood I guess so it didn't hurt. The nail just slowly fell off and eventually grew back to normal

[InsomniacInkRoss]

Sorry to be misleading, there was no gross photo. I was just setting up a disclaimer that there was a picture now, and it isn't gross so most people can look at it. It had looked slightly worse when it happened before I drained it, but never all that bad.

[InsomniacInkRoss]

New photo:

 

http://images.yuku.com/image/jpeg/b6e25ba9958112b56f6a82cf9627464605469ba.jpg

 

It looks like a ghost or something.