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So you lost a toenail. It happens.
Blame both ill-fitting shoes and training for full or half-marathons, says podiatrist Brian Fullem, the author of The Runner's Guide to Healthy Feet and Ankles: Simple Steps to Prevent Injury and Run Stronger.
Why? A constant battle between your toes and the end of a shoe can injure your nail and even cause blood blisters, forcing the nail away from the skin, he says. (Short-as-possible nails pre-long runs can help sidestep this.)
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But if it’s already a lost cause (read: buh-bye toenail)? Consider this your plan:
Your first step is to apply pressure to the area until the bleeding subsides, says Meredith Leigh Ward, D.P.M., a podiatrist at Moore Foot and Ankle Specialists in Asheville, North Carolina, who suggests following this with an antibiotic ointment and a Band-Aid. You can reapply those two things daily after a shower until the skin opening has closed (about one to two weeks, she says).
Super sore? Once your bandage and Neosporin are on, soak your foot for 10 minutes in warm water and Epsom salts, suggests Fullem. “This will help draw out some of the soreness.”
RELATED: 5 Causes of Black Toenails—and How to ID the Harmless From the Harmful
“Often, after repeated micro-trauma, the nail may fall off without any bleeding or open skin lesion underneath, which can be left alone,” says Ward. Band-Aids and Neosporin are good options here, too, for an added layer of protection against infection.
If you’ve got a blister, to boot? Fullem suggests sterilizing a needle with alcohol and draining it.
Watch Dr. Jordan Metzl discusses how to deal with black toenails, athlete’s foot, and ingrown toenails:
Repeat after us: Don’t. Pull. It. Off. Doing so can cause avoidable pain as well as unnecessary additional trauma.
Instead, trim the loose nail as short as you can so that it doesn’t snag on a sock or shoe (ow!), says Ward. Also: Don’t tape it back down. As Fullem puts it: “It will not re-attach.”
Unfortunately, you’ll just have to practice your patience for this one. “Each nail is a separate entity which takes six to nine months to grow,” he says. You’ll start to see a new nail growing in in about six weeks.
RELATED: 8 Weird Things That Can Happen to Your Fingernails—and What They Say About Your Health
If you notice an uptick in pain, red streaking up your toe, swelling, or any smelly drainage, it’s time to make an appointment with a podiatrist, as those are all signs of infection.
Says Fullem: “The nail sits very close to the bones of our toes, and if an infection starts in the skin surrounding the nail it can easily travel to the underlying bone and cause a severe infection if left untreated.”
The article Exactly What To Do If Your Toenail Falls Off originally appeared on Women’s Health.
Cassie Shortsleeve is a skilled freelance writer and editor with almost a decade of experience reporting on all things health, fitness, and travel. A former Shape and Men’s Health editor, her work has also been published in Women’s Health, SELF, Runner’s World, Men’s Journal, CNTraveler.com, and other national print and digital publications. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her drinking coffee or running around her hometown of Boston.
