Bruise on toenail getting worse

[Fluffysparks]

About a week ago I found myself stuck wearing shoes that were too small for me and couldn’t get home for a few hours. As a result of this I’ve developed a bruise on my big toenail. It covers more than half of the toenail and is mainly light blue but goes very purple at the base. Dr Google says some worrying things and that I should take myself straight to the doctor, and although I am getting a little worried I do think they will laugh. It seems to be getting worse, though and the bruise is deepening in colour. Is it anything to worry about?

What has google worried you about? Is it cancer? I managed to completely convince myself by googling (about this time last year actually) that I had nail bed cancer in one of my toes because half of it had gone black and I couldn’t work out how (or when, due to nail polish) it had happened. I finally (after several weeks) plucked up the courage to go to the GP but before I did it pretty much fell off and has grown back fine. I’m pretty sure it was a fungal infection.

If you can remember damaging your nail it’s almost certainly not cancer, and my extensive googling tells me that it usually develops very distinctively, as a straight line growing up the nail which gradually gets thicker.

If you’re worried though, no harm in booking a routine GP appointment to get it looked at, or you could go to see a chiropodist who should be able to tell you if it’s out of the ordinary.

I think you need to see someone to make a hole in your toenail to relieve the pressure under the nail.

Years ago I had some shoes that were a tad small for me, but as I loved them so much I kept wearing them. Like you OP I developed a bruise under the nail of each of my big toes, so reluctantly stopped wearing them.
The bruises - just as anywhere else on the body - went through a few colour changes, and within weeks had gone.
Thirty years later, I wear the right size shoes, have no under the nail bruises, and still have all my toes.

I once wore a pair of stilettos for a whole day and evening and my toenail bruised, then went white and fell off! Took about six months to grow back.

They were too small by the way (I have one foot bigger than the other).