To worry I might have nail cancer?

[Sadandstripey]

I’m really anxious about getting cancer and because of that I don’t trust my own judgement properly.

I’ve got a dark brown stripe running lengthways across my big toe nail. It has some darker pinprick spots in and isn’t a straight line. I can’t remember hurting my toe at all. The stripe has been there since October. I’ve now googled and scared myself silly it’s cancer. Would IBU to see a GP about this?

To add: I had convinced myself from googling that it was a melanoma. It wasn't. It grew out. It was blood under my (finger) nail. Who knows how it occurred. But it was massively scary and I catastrophised.

I've had similar and it was where I'd banged my nail on something and it had been bleeding. Do go and see your GP though and see what they say rather than listening to us randoms on the internet.

To reassure you, OP, I think cancer runs horizontally up/down the nail. Yours is vertical but do still get it checked.

Looks like fungus.

Looks a lot like bleeding under the nail from it having been bent back on itself. Here's a video of someone with a subungual haematoma (blood under the nail) on their thumbnail that looks quite similar to yours. If it hasn't changed at all in those three months and you're worried, see the GP — it's something you haven't had before, you're concerned about it, it's been there for three months, so they're unlikely to think you're panicking for no reason.

Has it moved up the nail at all, if it has it is most likely OK but I would check with GP. Nail cancer is usually in a straight line up and down.

They can take months to move through nail though. Keep the photo and take another in a month or two and see if it has changed position, the doctor will probably tell you to do that anyway.

Have you a photo from October, does it look in the same place.

I had something funky appear on my thumbnail a while ago. Definitely go to the GP (not necessarily urgent but make an appt). You are supposed to get changes to your nails like that checked out.

Mine wasn't of immediate concern and I'm supposed to keep an eye on it for any changes and my GP looks at it occasionally when I go in for something else.

I must stress that mine looked quite different from yours so please get it seen to and don't assume it's fine just because mine was.

To reassure you, OP, I think cancer runs horizontally up/down the nail. Yours is vertical but do still get it checked

The reverse is the case. Melanoma typically runs vertically from cuticle to top end of nail. The pic supplied by the OP shows a horizontal line.

I thought you meant it was going in the other direction.

It looks more like damage to the nail which will probably grow out.

How long has it been there? Did it appear suddenly or slowly become visible? Has it moved up the nail towards he end at all?

Toenails seem to take ages to grow compared to finger nails, so you may not have noticed much movement if it hasn't been there long.

Sorry, having read properly i see it has been there since October.

Has it travelled from the cuticle to mid nail in that time? Or has it always been in the same place?

Did you bang your nail? Also is it growing out or staying still and nail growing over it?

I doubt it's cancer but think you should see hour GP or even pharmacist

It can take up to 9-12 months for it to grow out so it should have grown up the nail a tiny bit since October. I had similar and it grew out very slowly

It’s stayed in the same place but to be honest I noticed it in October thought it was a bit strange & forgot about it. I haven’t been monitoring it or anything.

my dh had a brown vertical line under his toenail. had to have his nail removed for a biopsy but as soon as the nail came off , it was apparent that it was blood collected under the nail from a trauma.
The line looked nothing like yours-yours looks like a trauma.

Looks like nail trauma/fungal nail infection to me. I’ve had marks like that loads.

I’ve booked GP app for 10 this morning. Will they be able to tell me then if it’s just blood/ fungus?

I think GPs see a lot of manky nails, so I'd guess so?

I had 2 poker straight dark lines appear under my finger nail randomly running vertically, had been there for ages but then saw a post on Facebook about skin cancer under the nail bed and I instantly thought the worst. Went to GP who took one look at it and said if it was anything close to skin cancer it would be dark black and very “aggressive”. That was over a year ago and the lines are still there but still exactly the same width and colour.

Yours looks like blood under the nail particularly as it’s horizontal and not a straight line at that. See your gp for peace of mind though

Looks like trauma, melanoma is almost always a vertical line, yours is horizontal. Toenails grow very slowly compared to fingernails, so you're unlikely to notice significant growth in 3 months - would take a year for this to grow out.
Go to your GP, but on visual it looks reassuring to me, and very common. I see it frequently in my line of work.

Just looked at other big toe, which also has a brown line, in the same place. I assume this means more likely to be fungal. (Lovely).

Well that's good; seems pretty unlikely to get simultaneous symmetrical cancer…

Have you been wearing shoes that squish your toes? That is another possible explanation, your nails have been pushed back and bruised the area underneath.

Looks like you bashed it, but it’s been there since October so best get it looked at.

Good luck.

That's nail damage imo

Never Google health concerns, the answer is always cancer and imminent death

Probably best to get it checked just in case but hopefully it's nothing to worry about.