Not always—but if it’s growing, painful, or occurred without trauma, it’s best to have it examined by a podiatrist.

A tiny black spot under the toenail is usually not cancer.

It is usually the rupture of a small blood vessel called the capillary.

This can be called at petechiae. This means that it is a rupture of small blood vessel that creates blood flow underneath the toenail.

If you are worried about cancer or subungual melanoma, always check with your podiatrist and have biopsy performed.

• In very rare cases a black toenail can mean that subungual melanoma cancer is developing.
• The only 100% way to know for sure is to get a biopsy by visiting your doctor or podiatrist.

Black spot in the corner of the toenail is usually the start of an ingrown toenail.

We see this when the sharp edge of a big toenail on the inside or outside of the toe starts to cut the skin.

This could cause a lot of pain or it could even be painless.

We recommend seeing a podiatrist to get your ingrown toenail taken care of.

The most common cause of a black spot on the baby toenail is an injury or chronic rubbing to her fifth toenail.

This causes gradual blood buildup underneath her fifth toenail.

We frequently see this in people that have a titer leg hamstring or calf muscle to that leg.

This forces that foot to turn outward and the fifth toe to rub out against the side of the shoe.

This is a condition referred to as overpronation.

A black spot at the base of the toenail usually means that the toenail got jammed back into the stem cells or the root where it started.

This is most common with the big toenail especially when it is not trimmed for a long time.

It is also common with stubbing your big toenail and having a jam backward into the root of the toe.

This can cause pain and tenderness in the big toe site.

This can also happen with stubbing her fifth toe or your second toe if you are second toe is the longest toe.

A black line on toenail fungus is called melanonychia.

This means that you have brown or black lines on your toenails.

A black line on a toenail fungus might be melanoma, but this is usually unlikely.

If the black line extends into your skin, this is called a Hutchinson’s sign. A Hutchinson’s sign is over 3mm thick and is much more likely to signal cancer or melanoma.
A subungual melanoma is extremely rare.

Personally in our clinic we have seen tens of thousands of black toenails and black lines on toenails, with a rarely being melanoma.

But there are cases where we do perform biopsies if the toenail does appear suspicious.

It is extremely important to always check with your podiatrist and get a biopsy if you are worried about a melanoma.

There is no 100% foolproof method to ensure that there is no melanoma underneath her toenail.

A subungual melanoma can develop underneath the toenail.

This is extremely rare and accounts for only about 1-2% of all diagnosed melanomas and the human body.

Of the subungual melanomas 60% are found in the fingernails and about 40% are found as a black toenail fungus or melanoma type question.

Subungual melanomas are more common in older individuals 60 years or older and who have a history of cancerous skin growths.

A subungual melanoma or a toenail melanoma is usually very wide over 3 mm.
It is usually associated with a nodule and possible bleeding that extends into the acute call. This is called a Hutchinson sign.

Usually only one toenail is infected. It is very rare for there to be multiple subungual melanomas.

Important warning: It is extremely important to go see your podiatrist or your oncologist to perform a biopsy.

Subungual melanoma if not detected can spread through the rest of your body. Go see her podiatrist is a great start to diagnose whether he had a black toenail fungus or melanoma.

The most important thing is to find out why it is happening.

Frequently we see that it is a biomechanical injury such as too much pressure on to the big toenail the second toenail or the fifth toenail.

This can be due to shoes, it can be due to body weight, it can be due to standing or walking too much.

There is usually an underlying biomechanical change such as tightness through the calf or the arch of the foot.

It is important to see a podiatrist to have a walking or running analysis performed to see why this is happening.

Most black spots underneath the toenail do not show any signs of pain.

This is usually because it happens from a lot of small rubbing rather than one big injury.

We routinely see black spots on toenails develop in our patients after thousands and thousands of steps rather than dropping something big on your toenail.

If you are wondering why you have a black spot under your toenail, is usually due to dry blood developing under the toenail.

What usually happens is that people with high activity such as runners or people who stand on their feet all day, the toenail starts to rip away from the skin underneath it.

Small blood vessels underneath this can rip away and this creates first a bleeding red spot the very quickly turns black.

This means that dried blood is developing between the skin and the toenail.

This is most common in the big toenail or the second toenail. It can also happen in the fifth toenail.

Yes, though it’s less common than white or yellow discoloration. Some advanced fungal infections can turn the nail darker.

Bruising usually follows injury and grows out with the nail. Melanoma may stay in place, grow, change color, or appear streaked—get it checked if you’re unsure.

It can take several weeks to months, depending on nail growth. In some cases, the nail may fall off and regrow.

If the spot appeared without injury, is painful, changes shape, or hasn’t improved in a few weeks, book an appointment.