Toenail growing weird

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I just recently noticed this and wondered if anybody else has experienced something similar. All my toenails seem to grow fine, except the big toenail on my right foot. That toenail, for whatever reason, seems to grow thicker but won't grow out/forward. The length hasn't changed in months but it feels thicker than my other toenails. It doesn't hurt or anything like that. It's just weird! Anybody experience this?

 

[David]

My first guess

 

[Mayflower537]

Have you damaged it possibly? I had one that grew weird for a while - it was all white, too - grew crooked and was really gross. I assumed I had dropped something on my foot and injured the nail bed, and forgotten about it. Eventually it went away and started to grow normal again. Which is good b/c I hate painting my toenails.

 

[stratford]

Apologies for not being an expert on computers but i recall reading on this forum a couple of years back(i think) a thread all about fingernail growth.
I don't know how to post it or if it would help.

My toe nail on my smallest toe sounds similar!

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

May, oddly enough this is the big toe that I haven't injured. I broke my left big toe about 10 years ago and the nail on that toe grows just fine, although the toe itself doesn't bend well anymore. The right big toenail is the one that isn't growing.

Stratford, I do recall a thread like that, although I think it was mostly about fingernails and not toenails. There were a couple actually now that I think about it - one about clubbing of the fingernails, and another about ridges in the nails - that vertical ridges are okay and normal but horizontal ridges can indicate nutritional deficiencies. I have totally normal fingernails with no clubbing and only vertical ridges, but my big toenails do get horizontal ridges. So maybe the nail not growing could be related to nutritional deficiency? Although I'm pretty much in remission right now and seem to be absorbing nutrients just fine nowadays.

David, I'm not sure if it's a fungus or if it's related to my gut illness, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to treat it like a fungus and see if that helps. That link you posted led me to several others, and from those I gleaned that vicks vapor-rub might work just as well as prescription creams on toe fungus, so I'm going to give that a shot. It looks like you just rub on a bit of vicks twice daily on the nail and surrounding skin. That seems easy and hopefully will work!

 

[tiloah]

Cat - As david said, that sounds like onychomycosis! I used to do work for a foot doctor so I know... a lot about it. I myself am still not a doctor though.

Are you on anything for your "gut illness"? It might not be the gut problems causing it, but the treatment. You may be more susceptible to a fungal infection based on supressing your immune system. Although fungal toenail infections are extremely common in the healthy population, so that wouldn't be the cause necessarily, just make it more likely to happen?

Yes Vick's Vapo-Rub is one of the first things she would recommend. The problem with this type of infection is that it's *underneath* the nail, which is extremely difficult to treat topically. It's definitely worth a try though.

I would say if the nail isn't painful or causing any other problems it is probably fine to not treat it at all. But if it becomes a problem it might be worth seeing your GP or a foot doc and they can figure out a treatment for you (if the Vick's didn't work, that is).

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Nic, as for meds that I'm on for my gut illness, I'm on Asacol (was off it for a bit but my doctor said I can take it again), Omeprazole (Prilosec), Ranitidine (Zantac), and Amitriptyline. Zofran as needed. I only started Asacol in late Sept and the nail apparently hasn't grown in months so I'm sure that's not the culprit. I don't think the other meds are the cause either. I was on Entocort but came off of that in April, so that's got to be all out of my system by now. As far as I know, none of the meds I'm currently on would be supressing my immune system.

I think I'm going to try the Vicks thing first, then go to my GP if that doesn't help. Like I said, it doesn't hurt at all, but if that changes then I'll also head to the doctor.

 

[tiloah]

Yea. I was just naming that as a potential cause, but like I said it's extremely common in the "healthy" population too, so it's not really a surprise to just get it. Nail thickening is like the number one "symptom" that nail fungus causes. I think I probably have it in a couple of my toes (which freaks me out, I have a phobia of all fungi) but it doesn't cause me any problems.

Hope the Vick's does the trick!