Broken toenail is a nail that has been detached from its nail bed. A nail can separate from its nail bed due to injury and infections. Broken toenail is usually painful and can limit your movements especially walking and running.
Causes
There are many factors and medical conditions that can cause your toenail to get broken. They include:
- Injury or trauma: Injuries or trauma to your toe can cause the toenail to separate itself from the nail bed. There are many injuries that can occur on your toenail. For example you can accidently hit your toe on the stone or any solid material while walking which causes your toenail to detach from its nail bed. You can also cut your toe while digging and as a result break your toenail. Another form of injury is stubbing your toenail over and again especially when you wear unfitting shoes can break it.
- Fungal infections: Microorganisms such as fungi are found in the environment and can enter your body when you touch surfaces where they are present. Fungi can enter your toenail or the skin underneath your nail bed and cause an infection. Most fungi are found in wet and moist places. People who like going to swimming pools and community showers are at risk of fungal infection. You are also at risk of nail fungal infections if your family members have this infection as well as you use solons that do not sanitize their nail equipment properly.
- Psoriasis– Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin condition that makes skin cells to multiply quickly. This condition has no cure and it has cycles of improvement and worsening overtime. The causes of psoriasis are not known but medical studies associated it with genetic and environmental factors. This condition has been found in people in the same family and it is therefore believed to be inherited. Problems in white blood cells especially the T cells can cause psoriasis. T cells are responsible for defending the body against infections. In psoriasis, T cells can wrongly attack healthy skin cells. In some cases, the T cells can become hyperactive and stimulate more production of skin cells and white blood cells. These cells travel in your skin and cause pus in skin lesions and redness. There are many types of psoriasis and one of them is nail psoriasis. Nail psoriasis cause your nails to grow abnormally and become pitted. The affected toenail can become loose and detach itself from the nail bed. In case the condition is severe, the nail may crumble and fall off.
- Chemicals: There are certain chemicals that are applied on nails that can cause them to get detached from the nail bed. These chemicals include acetone nail polish remover which dries your nails making them weak and thus break easily.
- Medicines: Certain drugs can increase nail infection which affects your nails. Chemotherapy drugs are used to treat cancers and can cause undesirable side effects such as damaging your toenails. The damaged nails are usually detached from its nail bed and this can allow microorganisms to invade the skin below the nail bed and cause an infection. This can contribute to further separation of the toenail.
When a nail detaches from its nail bed, it takes longer for a new one to reattach. Normally new nails grow slowly. The toenail takes about one and a half years to grow back.
Treatment of Broken Toenail
Treatment for broken toenails may include a combination of medicines and home remedies. It also depends on accurate identification of the underlying medical condition and treating it properly. The following are some of the treatment options to cure broken toenail:
Trim the nails: Trimming the detached nail can help stop further tearing and boost healing. You can use a sharp razor or scissors to trim the affected nail yourself or have another person do it. You can also choose to leave the detached toenail alone which will eventually fall off.
After trimming your nail, put your toe in cold water for about twenty minutes. Then apply Vaseline on the affected area and cover it with a bandage until the nail bed is firm.
Medications: Certain medications can be used to treat infections in the toenail. Before issuing drugs, your doctor needs to know the type of infections you have. Your doctor will take a sample of your toenail and analysis it for fungal infections or skin disorder. If the tests reveal you have fungal infections, antifungal drugs will be prescribed.
Topical antifungal medications can also be used to treat nail fungal infections. But topical medications are less effective as compared to oral ones. This is because it is hard for topical medication to penetrate the nail and you require many daily applications for several years to achieve better results.
You can prevent infections in your broken toenail by doing the following simple self-care tips:
- Keep your toes clean and dry to prevent fungal infections. You can wash with soap and dry your toes with a clean cloth.
- Use non acetone remover to get rid of the polish.
