<p>Three weeks ago my daughter got her middle finger slammed in a bathroom door. She went to the acute care center the next day, they x-rayed it, and it was broken at the tip of the finger. She has it splinted now.</p>
<p>They had to drill a hole in her fingernail to drain the blood underneath and relieve the pressure. She says the fingernail is still raised (not detached in any way), but has not fallen off; she is getting what I think is a false impression that if the fingernail has not fallen off by now, that it won’t. I tried to hint to her that that might not necessarily be true.</p>
<p>What’s the story with injured fingernails and how long it takes for them to fall off and regrow?</p>
<p>Since she’s at school, I haven’t seen it. She is supposed to follow up with the acute care center in a couple of weeks, but since she’ll be home in three, I’m going to have her see our doctor here for follow up.</p>
<p>Well, a couple of years ago (I think probably two years ago), I was moving a new couch into my living room with my dad, and we accidentally dropped it on my big toe (don’t ask me why I decided to move it barefoot). </p>
<p>At first I really thought it was broken…the toenail bled, and I don’t think my toe has ever hurt so bad. I soaked it in cold water and it didn’t swell, so we didn’t go to the doctor. The toenail was sort of detached, but not ready to fall off.</p>
<p>A couple weeks later, I was shopping for Halloween and kicked this little display thing…it hurt a bit, but I didn’t even think about it. </p>
<p>Then, when I got home, I looked at my foot and the toenail was basically gone. I managed to get it off (THAT was a painful experience, but I have a very high pain tolerance) because it was bothering me to have it just hanging like that.</p>
<p>It took quite a while to grow all the way back…I’d say at least 3 or 4 months.</p>
<p>I slammed mine in my car trunk a few years ago. It did not come off right away but did after a while (can’t remember exactly how long). It grew back - actually looked odd for a little while. It probably took 3-4 months to grow back. it is completely normal looking now. This was probably 16 year ago because the kids were little and I had them and their 2 friends with me so had to really bite my tongue to not curse in front of them when I did it!</p>
<p>teriwtt, so sorry to hear that your D got hurt… Once a piece a rock-solid frozen fish fell out of the freezer onto my bare foot (I hate wearing slippers). It hurt like living h*ll, and then the pain went away, the toenail went black and eventually fell off (sorry for the graphic description). It grew back, but it took a good 4 months or so for it to be indistiguishable from the other one. So it will be a long process, but it will heal.</p>
<p>Our family has a lot of unfortunate experience with finger/toenails. My son at 13 had to have the fingernail bed stitched back on because he and another kid had been playing catch with a shot put(!). His fingernail grew back in just a couple of months. The plastic surgeon was astounded - he said it should have taken 6 months. I wasn’t surprised, since at the time I was buying him new shoes every 3 months. I figured that if his feet could grow that fast, so could his fingernails. My husband blackened a toenail by continuing to ski even though his toe was in pain. Just couldn’t stand to stop, I guess. Anyway, his new toenail took almost a year to grow in, but then he’s 50.</p>
<p>The plastic surgeon recommended keeping the old nail on the finger/toe for as long as possible, as it protects the new nail, which grows in under the old one. The bump that your daughter sees may be the new nail growing in.</p>
<p>I dropped a 45 pound wait on my foot - I wish someone had drilled a hole in the nail. I don’t think the nail ever fell off, and it now looks perfectly normal.</p>
<p>bunsenburner - I hope that frozen fish was one caught by you or a family member; no way can someone doubt you when you tell them how big the fish was!</p>
<p>Interesting to hear the differing lengths of time it takes to grow back. Frankly, I expected it would take many, many months, if not a year, so to hear that younger people have had them grow back quicker, is encouraging. I also suspect that, when she sees our doctor when she returns home, he may be able to give her an idea of what to expect based on how it looks then.</p>
<p>If it falls off, I had great success just painting the area above the new tiny nail the same color as the toenail would have been. You have to touch it up more often but it will pass for most people.</p>
<p>teriwtt: Actually, I took the nail off my big toe just a couple of days ago (for the second time, ugh). Played squash in shoes that were too big for a few months… lots of lunging, and there goes the nail.</p>
<p>The fact is that if they had to drain blood from under the fingernail (I’ve had that done too, but my mother [a doctor] just did it at home with a needle), it’s almost guaranteed that the nail bed is dead and the nail will eventually fall off. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if it’s the hand and aesthetics are a concern) nails can stick around for a long time after they’re dead; in my experience, only once the new nail has put some significant growth in underneath the old dead nail will the old one become detached enough to just pull out (for the nail I pulled out last week, I think it probably died in about October, was slightly moveable by about February, and last week became much more moveable and obviously dead).</p>
<p>The good news is that the nail will certainly grow back. I’ve never had a fingernail fall off and so cannot quote a time on that, but my toenails have taken somewhat longer than 3-4 months to grow back… probably more like 8. On the other hand, toenails grow slower anyways.</p>
<p>1of42 - well, and the toenails are a little bit longer, thus have farther to grow to be of normal length again. </p>
<p>I do find consolation in the fact that the old nail won’t fall off until the new one has sort of displaced it. Nails do provide some protection to cuticles, etc.</p>