Detaching toe nail

[Rocket123]

For about a year now the white bit of my second toe has got bigger and bigger to the point that it’s now only attached by about 10% of nail bed and the nail is really arched as it’s mostly not attached. The skin underneath is just like normal skin.

i don’t recall any injury to it and it doesn’t hurt. Sometimes kind of tingles. But I’m upset as it is ugly and I don’t know what will happen to it!

Any ideas what it is or how to treat it or good stories of this happening and the nail growing back?!

Have you had Covid? My toe nails all fell off after I had Covid, no pain or injury. Just did pretty much what you’ve described

Do you run a lot? I used to lose a few toenails in a similar way but if you run a lot you tend do expect it.
are you shoes fitting correctly?

I’ve had this many times. B12 deficiency. It could be that or diabetes. It could be fungal infection or injury. It will grow back. Have a check up .

No covid that I’m aware of and I don’t run regularly. I’m treating it as a fungal infection now but I’m not sure that it is. It’s just weird how it seems to have happened out of nowhere.

Very unlikely to be diabetic.

i have one pair of work shoes I wear without socks and I wondered whether they somehow caused it but then why would it continue to detach like this.

I’ll look into vitamin B12 thank you.

@ChocolateCakeOverspill did your nail grow back? I can’t see how it will grow back and be stuck down if the nail bed becomes just like normal skin??

Yes, they grew back, wasn’t my most attractive foot era but it was fine 😉😂

You need to go to a podiatrist to get it treated. They will cut away all the detached nail to start with, and give you the correct treatment if it’s a fungal nail infection. It will grow back.
Do you wear tight shoes?

Thank you. I went to one a month or so ago who just said, probably fungal but don’t know. Get some treatment and see. But it’s getting worse even though I started treatment 2 weeks ago.

i wear trainers or flat brogues mainly and don’t often wear tight or pointed shoes.

i want to keep the nail so I can paint it and make it look normal but I suspect that soon it will just fall off. So concerned that it won’t grow back!!

I had this on my big toe, but it did hurt. Podiatrist said to leave it and speak to GP about fungal infection. GP confirmed I had fungal infection and I treated it for about a year with no change. Have patience they said. Eventually after almost ripping it off by accident after catching it on the hem of a pair of trousers (ouch) I decided to cut it as far back as I could (so about 1/10 of the nail was left) and it has grown back almost as normal. I was detached for a couple of years so I can't believe it's grown back attached and normal and no more pain! Wish I'd just done that year ago instead of mucking about trying to treat a fungal infection that I am no longer convinced existed.

Interesting! Thank you - I’m currently treating as fungal but no confirmation of whether it actually is! It just takes soo long to grow!

I treated mine with eucalyptus oil and it grew back perfect!

Sounds like fungal nail, I have a big toenail the same. Tried all sorts of liquids and nothings worked but can apparently get tablets from the doctor. I did rip it off once, which was rather unpleasant 😬