If you jam your toe hard enough or drop something heavy on your toenail, odds are you’ll end up with a black or bruised toenail. Are these injuries severe? Do they need medical attention? We discuss the causes and treatment below.
Causes of Black Toenails
When your toenail suffers extreme trauma, blood pools underneath the nail. When the blood pools and becomes discolored, it is referred to as a subungual hematoma. Aside from trauma, some other common causes of a black toenail include:
- Ill-fitting or tight shoes
- Fungal infection
- Repeated pressure from running or athletic activities.
One thing that accompanies most discolored toes is pressure underneath the nail. Because the nailbed fills with blood, there’s less room for everything, and that causes upward pressure on your nail. The nail might eventually fall off on its own, but if the pressure becomes too painful, medical intervention may be necessary
Symptoms and Treatment of Black Toenails
Obviously the biggest indicator or a toenail injury is a blackened or discolored toenail, but your injury may be accompanied by other symptoms, including:
- Significant or repetitive pain while walking
- Foul odor
- Puss or discharge from underneath the nail
- Swelling
- Loose nail
- Chill or fever
Some of these symptoms will resolve on their own, but others are a sign that you should seek medical treatment. For example, if you toe is discharging puss or a foul odor, it may be sign of an infection, and medical intervention is recommended.
Treatment options for black toenails are pretty straightforward. If it’s a rather minor injury, involving minor discoloration, the nail will likely heal on its own. In these cases, just take over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications, wear loose or open-toe shoes to let your toe breath and keep an eye on your toe to check for more serous symptoms.
If you are experiencing more serious symptoms, including foul discharge, fevers or chills, you’ll want to take a more hands-on approach to treatment. The first thing you’ll want ot do is schedule an appointment with a foot specialist. They’ll examine the toe and decide if the best course of action is to remove the injured nail. Removing the nail sounds painful, but it’s a nearly painless procedure which allows the doctor to look for more troubling signs, like a lacerated nailbed or an exposed bone. If left untreated, this can lead to a bone infection, so it’s imperative you seek out expert medical care.
There are three main ways a foot surgeon can treat your injury. Through removal, with a needle, or through a process known as cautery.
Removal – As the name implies, this involves removing the nail to relieve pressure and check for major injury.
Needle – This treatment involves using a needle to create a small hole which will allow the fluid under the nail to drain. This will help relieve any pressure under the nailbed.
Cautery – This is similar to the above method in that it helps drain the excess fluid, but instead of using a needle, this method uses a small device that burns a small hole in your nail until fluid begins to drain.
The doctor will give you specific care instructions after any of these procedures, but because you’ll have a least a partially exposed nailbed, it’s a good idea to soak your feet with Epsom salt and lukewarm water for 10-15 minutes a few times a day to combat infections. Ask your doctor for your person care strategy.