Inflamed and Swollen Nail Bed [Toenail Coming Off or Toenail Fungus?]

Inflamed Nail Bed or Swollen Nail Bed Overview:

• An inflamed nail bed were a swollen nail bed is caused by repetitive irritation.
• This could lead to a red toenail or a black toenail.
• It can also cause your toenail to start lifting up and coming off the top.
• This is very common in people who spend a lot of time on their feet, and it can eventually lead to toenail fungus.
• It is very important to stop the chronic repetition, and cleanup the toenail fungus that has developed!.
• Below we go over our favorite treatment options and products for your inflamed nail bed and swollen nail bed.

Symptoms:

• The most common symptoms of an inflamed nail better swollen nail bed include:
• chronic irritation when standing all day.
• Soreness when you go to bed at night.
• Throbbing toes when you get off work or get home at the end of the day.
• Inability to wear shoes comfortably.
• Inability to stand for long periods of time without pain.
• Worsening pain with tighter shoes.
• Worsening pain when standing all day long.

Causes:

There are three major causes towards the swollen nail bed.

Repetitive micro trauma:

• This is the number one cause of the swollen or inflamed nail bed.
• This occurs in people who are on their feet all day, such as construction workers, nurses and teachers.
• This is also very common in marathon runners and people who jog during the week.
• When you put so much pressure on the front of your foot, usually your longest toes become very sore and and swollen.
• This can lead to chronic thickening of your toenails.
• This can eventually lead to toenail fungus.

Toenail trauma:

• The second most common cause is people who jammer bump their toe.
• The toenail then starts to come off, or fall off.
• Without proper care or treatment, this toenail may grow back inappropriately, this can lead to toenail fungus development.
• Usually there is callous for scar tissue that develops underneath the nail in the nail does not grow back properly.

Toenail fungus:

• This is usually not the primary cause, but it does happen over time from the first two issues.
• If the toenail cannot grow properly, or it continually becomes agitated or inflamed: fungus and bacteria have an opportunity to enter the skin and get underneath the nail.
• If fungus and bacteria grow underneath the meal for long period of time, this can lead to thickened the strophic nail.

Home Treatment:

1)Correct the pain and chronic irritation:

I can’t tell from the picture but it could be anything:

• Arthritis in the toe(jamming it against the shoe).
• A shorter leg(needing a harder push off).
• Bad shoes(compressing the toe).
• Previous injury that never healed(leading to a short or long toe or joint arthritis).
• Anything that is causing your toe to constantly be irritated!
• This needs to be corrected and prevent your toenail from being further callused under the nail.

2)Sometimes the toenail will not survive:

• The nail may have to be removed and allowed to regrow if it is separated at all from the skin underneath it.
• If it was firmly attached and the color was normal that means its properly attached to non-thick skin underneath it.
• We frequently find that the toenail is loose, even though it is attached at the root.
• This means that there is no blood flow getting to the toe.
• If there is no blood flow getting to the toe, the toe cannot heal. It will continue to get yellow and brown and die.

3)Treat Toenail Fungus:

• We frequently find that there is toenail fungus associated with the loose toenail.
• The best treatment for the loose toenail fungus is to groom and potentially remove the loose toenail.
• At this point it is possible to use creams, soaps and lotions to keep the fungus away.
• It is also important to treat foot fungus in your athlete’s foot to prevent it from spreading across her skin onto the toenail.

4) Get Shoes that fit properly:

• The number one cause of toenails coming off is usually shoes that are too tight while standing.
• If you can correct the type shoes, they will stop rubbing against your toenails.
• This will stop the nails from getting thick, and jamming back into the root.
• The biggest mistake we see is that people for choose properly while they are sitting, and then when they stand their toes function to the front of the shoe.
• At the same time people should measure their shoes every single year.
• We find most people do not measure their shoe size properly leading to problems.

More Resources for Swollen Toenail Bed:

Hard Painful Toenail