Healing a fallen-off fingernail

July 14, 2023 12:21 PM

I smashed my thumb in a doorway a few weeks ago. Went to the doctor, didn’t break anything, but now it looks like the nail is going to fall right off. :( What do I do when it falls off? Should I let it happen or pull it off myself? Do you just have to wear a bandage for months until it regrows? Is there anything I can do to improve my chances of not having it grow in broken or busted?

I’m also the vain type (eponysterical) who only feels put together when my nails are done. I am considering gluing a fake nail to the stump or getting a nail salon tech to do something like that, but I feel like that’s almost certainly a bad idea…tell me if it is? Anything else I can do to disguise this situation?

posted by vanitas to Health & Fitness (22 answers total)

Don't try to remove the nail yourself as it can hurt and may tear and create more damage. Bandage it roughly so it falls off itself as the nail grows and doesn't get ripped off accidentally.

Scrupulously clean the exposed nail bed every day with an antifungal until it is grown back properly. When a nail is missing that allows fungus to get a set up a thriving colony under the nail bed.

Vinegar is probably sufficient, if you rinse your thumb in it two or three times a day. If you go with a fake nail to hide the situation, could you replace it every day in order to allow you to treat the nail bed beneath?
posted by Jane the Brown at 12:30 PM on July 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

It will get increasingly loose until it eventually falls off, which may involve some amount of pain if it gets pulled out from being stuck/snagged on something. When it does, it will look kinda gross so you'll probably want to hide it with a band aid when you are out and about for a bit. Sometime after that, the nail bed will heal and you'll get some new nail poking out. I don't recall it taking months to regrow, but my personal experience is from when I was a filthy kindergartner.

You're not going to want to glue anything to your nail bed. Even if it's not a bad idea for other reasons, the area can be very sensitive to touch. That part I know from my SO's recent experience of losing a toe nail.
posted by wierdo at 12:33 PM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

I did something similar, and it also cost me the nail...after the nail fell off, it took at most only two months to grow back. So this is a very temporary situation.

Definitely wear a bandage while it's growing back. Gluing a fake nail onto it would not be a good idea - it'll be growing back in faster than you'd think, and you don't want to impede that. If the idea of having a big ugly bandage there is unappealing, maybe look into some patterned bandages? It's still obviously a bandage, but you can have fun with colors or patterns. And it's only going to be for a couple months at MOST anyway.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:54 PM on July 14, 2023 [5 favorites]

Oh, and the nail grows back in looking exactly the way the old one did, so you won't have to worry about always being able to tell "That's where I smashed my finger" or whatever. I honestly can't even remember which finger I smashed in the door (I think it may have been one of the thumbs?....), and looking at my nails doesn't give me any indication.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:56 PM on July 14, 2023

I did something similar many years ago, although it looked like the nail was going to tear off rather than fall off. In that instance, I went to a good nail salon that put a layer of acrylic over it to protect it until the tear grew out. Based on that experience, even if you're sure it will fall off rather than tear off, I would suggest tapping the expertise of a good nail technician.
posted by DrGail at 1:02 PM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

My (big) toenail fell off after I broke my toe a few years ago. It was super annoying waiting for it to completely drop off (and I was able to get some pretty gnarly pictures of the process that nobody was interested in looking at), but I was surprised by how....ok my naked toe was. I assumed the nailbed would be incredibly sensitive, but instead it was just very smooth and weird until the toenail grew back. Ah, memories!
posted by cakelite at 1:07 PM on July 14, 2023

Given that your fingernail was smashed there is a chance that it may grow back thicker than you would like, which is not uncommon. This happened to me, but it was absolutely not a big deal, as I just filed it down to normal thickness and then it resumed growing normally, to its pre-injury thickness.

EC's idea about patterned bandages is a good one. I wore ridiculous children's bandages. This wasn't a conscious decision to be whimsical or playful about it; it was my young kiddo who put them on me and it made him happy. It ended up being a fun conversation starter. ("I banged up my nail and my kid is protecting me with Grover until it heals" is a nicer story than "This band-aid is my safeguard against fungus in my nailbed since my nail fell off.")
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:13 PM on July 14, 2023

I have lost a few nails over the years. Often the replacement nail is what pushed the old one out of the way- so don’t remove it or fuss with it too much. Paint it but otherwise let it be. The new nail will look strange and may be sensitive (it was also very bruised) so I wore a bandaid when it was my middle finger. That phase only lasted a few weeks.

Nails are tough. The only difference on my middle finger now is that it has a small white 1/2 moon on the nail.
posted by zenon at 1:25 PM on July 14, 2023

Ouch!

I suspect mine wasn't as bad as yours...
But it was ripping off half way down?
I did that.. got a plastic one glued on top in a nail bar.

Totally sorted it and for peanuts.

I asked his advice in the nail bar..
It let the fresh nail grow back and i didn't have to stress about catching it.

Would definitely do this again.
posted by tanktop at 1:26 PM on July 14, 2023

I’ve been through this with fingernails (injury) and a big toenail (distance running), and I will echo the recommendations to keep a Band-Aid over it, to let it fall off on its own, and not to glue stuff onto the bare nail bed. (I’m normally very pro-acrylic nails, FYI!)

In my experience, it will look worse than it feels for a couple of weeks; more specifically, it will feel almost as gross as it looks, but not necessarily as painful. The band-aid is as much for onlookers’ comfort as your own, and (speaking as a fellow vain person) it will also make you feel less exposed and freaky while it heals.

I think the idea of building a snazzy Band-Aid wardrobe is a fabulous one.

Speedy recovery! My prodigal nails all grew back in normally, for what it’s worth.
posted by armeowda at 1:30 PM on July 14, 2023

Lots of good advice here, but FWIW when this happened to my toenail I just let it fall off then did nothing and it grew back without issue.
posted by jeffamaphone at 2:11 PM on July 14, 2023

I’m currently dealing with a few nail injuries due to a nasty bout of hand foot and mouth disease. In addition to the good advice you’re getting here, google the term “finger cot” and look into buying some of those to wear as a protective bandage. I got some thicker silicone ones that I wear to protect my jagged nail as it’s growing back so it doesn’t snag on things.
posted by rodneyaug at 2:12 PM on July 14, 2023

Often the replacement nail is what pushed the old one out of the way- so don’t remove it or fuss with it too much.

This is what happened with my big toenail after I stupidly moved furniture wearing sandals. It took months. I kept a bandaid on it for a bit and later tape, when it became apparent it wasn't coming off anytime soon.

The other thing that was surprising was that one side and the bottom broke free, with the other side hanging on. I had about 3/4 of a new nail and could swing the dead one like a door.
posted by hoyland at 3:01 PM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Trauma can affect the nail bed and they *can* grow back differently. No way to know until it grows back, and then there are ways to trim them to almost normal.
posted by kschang at 3:34 PM on July 14, 2023

What I did was use the sticky parts of a colored "flexible fabric" bandaid to cut out a fingernail shape and stick it where it should be. It protected the tender area, I changed it every day, and it looked enough like nail polish that no one even commented.
posted by xo at 4:12 PM on July 14, 2023

Nthing protect it best you can without impeding new growth. When this happened to me, I let the nail fall off on it's own, which took way longer than I thought it would. When it finally did, I was shocked at how much new nail had already grown in under the old one. I really didn't have very long with an exposed nail bed.
posted by soy_renfield at 4:29 PM on July 14, 2023

Don't pull it.
Definitely don't put a fake nail on it or mess with it at all.

In the late 90s, I slammed my hand in a car door, somehow managing to slice my finger THROUGH my thumbnail. The nail was most of the way off when I arrived at my doctor's, and it required 11 tiny stitches to sew it up.

My doctor warned me that the nail might not regrow at all, might regrow weird or wrong, or might turn out just fine, though he gave that the lowest odds.

That was on August 20th. Despite having a toddler and going to college, I was cautious with it and kept the bare nail bed covered with a never-ending series of band-aids until Thanksgiving.

At that point, I finally deemed the nail long enough that it was safe to go without the bandage. (Wish I'd known about hair & nail vitamins then, it might've spend up the process a bit.)

It grew out perfectly, and even the very-slight, only-noticeable-to-me bump in my nail that the stitches had been underneath has pretty much become invisible over the years.

So BE NICE TO IT. Buy yourself cute band-aids if it helps - there are all sorts - and know that allowing it to heal and regrow without interference is your best chance of getting the optimal results.
posted by stormyteal at 9:56 PM on July 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

Wish I'd known about hair & nail vitamins then, it might've spend up the process a bit.)

I think stormyteal's advice is very important.

As my anemia got worse my nails became thin and exremely weak. My problem was an inability to absorb vitamin B12, and normal B12 supplements aren’t enough to overcome this. If you think you may be anemic you will need to take ~10000 micrograms a day of B12 for a while if you have issues similar to mine.
posted by jamjam at 1:10 AM on July 15, 2023

If you’re careful with prep and removal you can use press ons for temporary camo. Don’t leave it on your thumb as long as your other fingers if you can manage to get press ons that last, but a couple days should be okay.

Toenails grow a lot slower than fingernails on most people, so discount the times stated for regrowth of toenails. It’s more common to lose a toenail because of sports and shoe compression and all so there are probably more anecdotes out there, but it should only be about a month for your fingernail. You could try taking supplements for nail and hair health and eating extra protein but all of that doesn’t really have any scientific basis to back it up. Gently stimulating the nail bed with massage might help too, since promoting blood flow to the cuticle can speed growth, but it’s mostly a waiting game.
posted by Mizu at 2:45 AM on July 15, 2023

The thumbnail I lost has pronounced ridges now but I actually smashed the thumb between the nail and the knuckle. It took a couple months for the old nail to come off (I also had the asmetrical release) and the new nail was 3/4 of the way out by that point under the old. The new nail was also pretty knarlly for the first year after until things settled down to the easily fileable and probably not really noticed by anyone else ridges.
posted by Mitheral at 7:24 AM on July 15, 2023

Well, a very long time ago, 6-year-old Ms Vegetable picked at her fingernails and got one infected enough to the point a fingernail fell off overnight.

I obviously was not skilled enough to take care of it anything special for healing. I couldn't even tell you which hand, let alone which finger, it was.

So - it will be ok.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 9:42 AM on July 15, 2023

I've lost a nail or two over the years. Takes longer than you would think for something that is barely hanging on to finally drop off. Keep it clean and dry and protected from bumps and snags until it's gone. Time will tell if the new nail will look normal or not.

Mine were always a deep rich purple, and I would think well that's a bad bruise but it should be okay. And then get kind weird and I realize, nope, this is gonna go.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 1:52 PM on July 15, 2023