Nail on little toe is black

[Littleblacktoe]

See photo (which is enlarged so probably looks worse than it is).

Noticed it a couple of months ago when painting my toes but could've been there longer I guess. Removed the polish the other day and realised it was still there. Not sure if it's got bigger or moved as the original glance was so brief. Don't recall hurting it although I guess shoes could've rubbed.

I've of course googled and come up with melanoma! From what I've read, melanoma is usually a thin vertical line (this is a horizontal blob/spot) and usually affects big toes, thumbs or index finger, not the pinkies!

Should I be bothering the GP with this? Will obviously monitor and see if it shows signs of growing out before I do. However, that could be a long time as toenails grow VERY slowly.

Grateful for any thoughts.

I'm not a doctor but could you have bruised it and it is getting ready to fall off?

Thanks, doesn't feel like it's about to fall off and doesn't hurt.

I had similar, turned out to be fungal, and I used a lotion from boots, took forever, but nearly grown out now, and the new grown nail is clear.

@sparkysalmon that does look similar. I thought fungus was more yellow/green, this is definitely black. Was it just the one toe? Did it hurt or itch. Mine doesn't.

I only had the black patch on the little toe, but the other toes on the same foot were yellowing, brittle and thick, so they are all being treated, and I'm seeing improvement.

You could ask a chiropodist, and/or GP to do a nail scraping and they can check for fungal infection that way.

It's not necessarily a good thing that you can't feel it. Ask a pharmacist to have a look.

@sparkysalmon my other toes and feet look completely normal.

@Footle do you work in feet or is your username coincidental ?😀

My mum had this on her big toe. Just went black for no reason at all. She went to the GP who put her on a two week wait to the dermatologist I think? Anyway, he looked with his camera and said it was actually a bruise and the toenail should fall off. It did fall off in the next couple of days and her toe is fine now. Get it checked out by the GP as these things should be checked.

@PinkButtercups hopefully it's something like that. Will keep an eye and go to GP if no change in a couple weeks (will probably take at least a couple more weeks more to actually be seen knowing our surgery!). Trying not to worry (and Google!) but hard.

@Littleblacktoe , coincidental. But I know more than I'd like to about things that go wrong with feet. Loss of sensation is one of the things to watch out for.

@Footle oh dear! Foot feels completely normal.