Toenail Troubles

Dealing with some of the most common issues that affect your toenails.

One of the smallest visible parts of your body, your toenails can cause some major pain and embarrassment. While they may not seem to serve any immediate purpose, treating them as unimportant is a mistake that could cause lasting issues.
What do you need to protect your toenails from?

Bacterial Infections

Usually caused by damage to the nail or the skin surrounding the nail, bacterial infections result in swelling, redness, and pain around the nails. Occasionally, the infection is accompanied by a green discoloration of the nail. Treatment often includes antibiotic medication and medical draining of the swollen area surrounding the nail. Not treating the infection will allow it to grow and potentially spread to other toenails.

Fungus

More common than bacterial infections, fungal infections are frequently inherited and cause abnormal nail growth and discoloration. The best treatment for fungal infection is oral medication. However, nail fungus occasionally responds to topical lotions, gels, or creams. Untreated fungal infection can also result in damage to other toenails over time.

Ingrown Toenails

An ingrown toenail is easy to diagnose. When the edge of a toenail angles down into the surrounding skin, it's an ingrown toenail. Sometimes painful, sometimes inducing infection, ingrown toenails can be avoided by cutting your toenails properly (straight across instead of at an angle), wearing properly fitting shoes, and standing on your feet correctly. Quick medical treatment can prevent long-term complications.

Many nail injuries heal on their own while you go about your daily life.Medical attention is necessary if you notice a white or black line in your toenail, the color or shape of your nail changes, you see dents or ridges in the nail, or the skin surrounding a toenail becomes swollen or painful.

Splinters

They look like red or reddish-brown splinters under the nail, and they appear when damage occurs to the blood vessels housed in the nail bed. Known as splinter hemorrhages, these toenail problems are usually caused by nail trauma, though certain diseases and medications can bring them on. If you're unsure what the cause of your splinter hemorrhage is, contact your physician to get to the root of your problem.

Warts

Found in any and all areas of the nail, toenail warts can result in the toenail plate becoming disfigured. In the event the wart begins to grow so much that it prevents natural nail growth, the toenail can be completely destroyed.

Treatment of toenail warts typically requires freezing the wart, using chemicals to destroy the wart, or surgical intervention to remove the wart.

White Spots

Jam your toe on a door or drop a heavy box on your foot and you may wind up with small white spots on your toenails. For the most part, these white spots resolve themselves in a matter of days. But if white spots begin showing up on your feet and you don't recall injuring your toenails, the spots may be an indication of a medical condition, such as an infection. Proper screening by your physician can ensure your condition doesn't worsen.

Not Just the Feet

Think your toenails only affect your foot health? Think again. Poor toenail health can be an indication of some other serious conditions affecting many parts of the body. Here are some of the most serious.

• Pale nail beds can indicate anemia.
• Red nail beds can indicate a heart condition.
• Half-pink, half-white nail beds can indicate kidney disease.
• White nails can indicate liver disease.
• Yellow, thick nails can indicate lung disease.
• A blush at the base of yellow nails can indicate diabetes.

If you have any of these discolorations, ask your physician whether you're at risk for other conditions that reach well beyond your feet.