Toenails are one part of the body that can often be overlooked, as they are often out of sight and out of mind. Can you remember the last time you had a good look at your toenails?

Toenails protect the top of your toes with a robust layer of keratin – but they can only do this for as long as they’re healthy. So it’s important to check your toenails regularly and see a podiatrist about anything unusual.

1. Discoloured, Brittle Toenails

A healthy toenail should look pink or peach in colour with pale tips. If one of your nails has turned yellow, green, black or white, it could be a fungal nail infection beginning. The infected toenail will discoloured and brittle and starting to look a little thicker. It is not unusual for this type of nail to crumble causing bits of nail to flake off.

What happens if I don’t treat my fungal nail?

If you do not treat your fungal nail, it can become detached from the nail bed, which may also be infected. This can cause discomfort in shoes while walking.

Your podiatrist can diagnose the infection, and help you to find the best topical or oral fungal nail treatment to suit you.

2. A Toenail that is digging into Your Toe

Sometimes your nail can change shape or its normal growth pattern can change. If this happens your nail may start to dig into your skin, which can start to cause pain and create a build-up of pressure on one or both sides of the toe. This will cause the skin to become red, sore and inflamed. In some cases, the nail will pierce the skin and cause an ingrown toenail leaving the area open to infection.

If the above symptoms would be typical of an involuted toenail or an ingrown nail when it has broken the skin. Toenails digging into the skin develop as a result of wearing tight shoes and hosiery, trimming nails too short or the wrong way, from dropping something heavy on it or from an injury.

If your toenail starts to dig in avoid attempting to cut it out on your own as you may cause more trouble by leaving a nail spur further down the nail sulcus.

Visit your podiatrist who can relieve the pressure conservatively or perform a partial or total toenail removal surgery if necessary. We can offer toenail surgery in our clinic in Bangor under Local Anaesthetic.

3. Pitted, Ridged Toenails

Are you prone to psoriasis? Yes, psoriasis of the skin can affect your toenails by leaving small indentations and ridges on the nails as well as tiny burst blood vessels underneath the nail plate. Sometimes these nails can split and become separated from the nail bed which can then leave it open to infection.

Your podiatrist can help by trimming and filing your toenails to alleviate the problem and to try and encourage normal growth. If you have severe psoriasis in the toenail, surgery can be done to prevent any further trouble.

4. Blood Trapped Beneath a Toenail

Sometimes clients attend our clinic with blood underneath their nail bed, often in a panic.

If you’ve injured your toe or maybe worn the wrong shape of shoe it can put a lot of pressure on your toe. This can sometimes cause painful trauma to the toenail. You’ll often notice blood trapped beneath the nail in this case. Once damaged you may find the nail will change shape and detach from the nail bed.

If you experience this it may be advisable to seek professional help, so that the wound can be treated, the pressure relieved from under the nail, and the possibility of further damage investigated.

If the injury is linked to your footwear, your podiatrist can help advise you on better shoes.

5. Thick, Claw-Like Toenails

My toenail is growing thick and curvy is this normal? Toenails should be quite thin and flat. If your toenails are extremely thick and curvy, you may have a disorder known as Onychogryphosis (ram’s horn nails). These nails can also be discoloured.

This type of nail can be caused by trauma to the nail root, but also be caused by fungal nails and a few other health conditions. It can also be caused if the nails aren’t being maintained well.

Podiatrists will normally treat these nails by removing some or all of each affected nail as well as using a nail drill to thin the nail down.

Ram’s horn nails are more common among older people, as they often find it difficult to maintain a foot care regime. Thankfully, regular appointments with a podiatrist can help individuals maintain good foot health, preventing any pain or discomfort.

For specialist treatment with one of our podiatrists give us a call on 07725885818 or click here to book now.