Stubbed or Run Over Toenail

There is nothing worse than running over your toe with a door or jamming your toe into a door. The pain of doing this is really like none other. So, it is no surprise that this kind of pain can result in one heck of an injury. It can be as bad as separating your toenail from your toe.

So, what do you do for this kind of injury? Well, for one thing, this injury can result in actually breaking your toe. However, if you just dragged the door over it, you could just have injured the skin and soft tissue. Either way, it is important to get x-rays done to make sure there is not more of an injury than what you think. It also may be necessary to remove the toenail. You don’t want any blood to build up underneath the nail. This will just cause pressure and more pain than is necessary. Removing the nail is not going to result in a permanently absent nail. Your nail will grow back over a period of about 6-9 months.

If the skin has been broken, it may be necessary to place you on some antibiotics. If the door was rusty and you are not up-to-date on your tetanus boosters, we may need to get you a tetanus booster. These steps may be important for you to prevent infection and keep you from having bigger troubles than necessary. You’ve already had enough pain without having to endure an infection.

So, what happens if you did break your toe? Depending on how bad it is, it may be as simple as putting you in a surgical shoe to stabilize it and keep the fragments from moving or you may need surgery to stabilize the fragments.

If you or someone you know rammed their toe into a door or run over it with the door, it is important that you see your local podiatrist. If you live in the Reading or Tewksbury, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help treat your calluses. We are also happy to announce our Methuen and North Andover offices located at 451 Andover St. Suite 300, North Andover MA 01845 and 87 Jackson St, Methuen, MA 01835.