Toenail split and falling off.

[timeistight]

I had a partial avulsion at Christmas and now the nail has split halfway across just above the half moon and it hurts! It feels like a fingernail if it peels off below the free edge. I can't get hold of the podiatrist that did the surgery, but one of his colleagues has just called and told me this is perfectly normal.

I'm sceptical because no-one mentioned this possibility to me. Has it happened to anyone else?

Thanks.

UK Podiatrist here,

Without seeing pictures hard to make judgement but it's not "normal" post-op for that to happen, most PNA's end up with just a strip taken off and no damage to the remaining nail.

If that happened to one of my patients I'd be looking to nip back the "free" nail as much as possible, as the risk of catching it on something is much higher and of course to reduce to pain.

Thank you. I've now been able to speak to the chap who did the original surgery. He says this is not usual and I'm going in tomorrow for him to have a look.

As the last person who treated you at the very least he would be obliged to have you in for a review. In this review he will either nip the offending nail back or he may suggest another strip or a TNA (total nail avulsion), it depends on his skill and experience.

Either way I'm sure it will be absolutely fine. We see these things daily and while not ideal they do go a bit awry from time to time.

Thanks again. I must admit I see this as secondary to the original surgery, so I won't be keen for him to charge me again! Hopefully, he'll do what I can't, which is cut off the loose bits. That'll do for the time being. I suspect from what he said on the phone that he'll want to dress it as well, but I had a massive allergic reaction to the dressings he usually uses, which was no surprise to me, but seemed to puzzle him.

Yeah he shouldn't charge. I wouldn't if I was certain that the post-op complication was my fault/responsibility. I would ascertain this (not the paying bit, the fault element) quite early on discretely.

Hmm, allergic to iodine perhaps? That's the only substance I can think of which has the potential for an allergic reaction dressing wise...it's quite rare but isn't unknown by any meas.