Pinto Toe

• Without a podiatrist, how do I fix my big toe? I do not think it is a hangnail, and it looks normal to the eye. But I could bump it on a down pillow and it will be so painful I want to chop it off. And it's a delayed pain. I run minimal distances each week and play some sports a couple times a month, but I am not doing anything major. In fact, the injury rarely hurts just before, during or after physical activity in general, or any specific activity. It's the top, outside part of my big toe. Visually, it looks normal. No gunk, no smell, nothing odd. But occasionally I slightly graze it on something and dear god I want to rip my own hair out it hurts so bad. The weird thing is, it doesn't hurt for about 3 seconds (and then it kills). I can jump on it and it's fine. The pain is from something hitting it head on or side on. If I take a misstep and stub my toe while walking, oh the pain. This has been going on for months to up to a year, and keeps happening. I realize my shoes may be causing the problem, but for now, I just need to fix it before I bite my own toe off. I have tried cutting away the skin around that part, assuming it was a hangnail of some sort. I did that and put a bandaid on it to further pull the skin away from the nail. That has not helped. Tried soaking it in hydrogen peroxide. Nope. Soaking it in alcohol. No changes. With both, I would make sure it got in there between the top outside skin and nail bed. Zip. What can I do without a podiatrist? What is this ultra painful big toe problem? What do I buy or do, cut or bandage to fix this?

• Answer:

  I had an ingrown toe nail. Big toe. Suffered with it for years, started out when I dropped ten pounds on it resulting in the nail (finally) sloughing off, and when the nail grew back it dug into the side of the nail bed, at the top, resulting in pain such as you're describing. Oh man, did it hurt. Like you say, stub it on a down pillow and it's a real show-stopper. The only way I ever got it to quit hurting was to (patiently) let it grow all the way through the skin it'd dead-ended into and then leave it that way. It looked comical at first, having this long toenail sticking out into next week, but in fairly short order it came back to looking more normal -- whatever it is a normal toe looks like -- all that inflamed tissue receded. Now, no pain. At all. It was so worth suffering that two months or however long it was as the nail grew out, having it be hopping up and down REAL SENSITIVE like OW OW OW OW JESUS FUCKING CHRIST !!!! that whole time. What I had been doing was cutting the nail out with this big-assed scissor implement sort of thing, digging it out of the corner of the quick, which provided relief but short-termed relief, it wasn't totally pain-free and it of course became real painful again as it grew out. I had a number of doctors -- and others, also -- telling me to let it grow through but they weren't feeling that pain, I was. I've heard of other people who had to go to doctors to get these things treated somehow, the doctors cutting them out somehow, but that was never recommended to me; instead, just letting it grow. I did, it worked. Obviously, I have no idea if this is what is getting you, but the pain sounds oh so familiar. Sorry it's happening to you, hope you can get it resolved; I'd rather watch a widow get her house foreclosed on than go through it again, I'd rather watch orphaned urchins eat mcdonalds food, I'd rather see a church burn, etc.