Have you ever lost a fingernail?

United States
June 24, 2007 8:35am CST
Almost three months ago (April 2 actually) I smashed my left middle finger in my brother's car door. Oh man did that hurt! I couldn't sleep for 2 whole days, it was so painful! My nail went black as the blood drained into it and my finger was all cut up. I lost the nail about 2 weeks later. Right now the new nail is almost entirely there! It's looking very wonky still, the nail has two lumps and it's very narrow (my nails are wide) but I'm so happy I can at least paint it again! Haha. I cannot wait until it's fully grown out. Has this ever happened to you? How did it happen and how long did the nail take to grow out?
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10 responses
• United States
24 Jun 07
Unfortunately I've had it happen several times. I used to be a bartender and I was forever smashing my fingers in the cooler doors when I'd get in a hurry. Here's a couple of tips if it ever happens to you again. It will save a lot of healing time and cause less nail detachment which will help keep it from looking so ugly. It saved me from losing my entire nail on more than one occasion. Tip 1: As soon as possible get the finger in ice. The faster the better it will stop the bleeding faster than anything and of course it's the bleeding that seperates the nail from the nail bed. Tip 2: Once the bleeding stops you need to get the blood out. This will stop the pain immediately. It's the pressure of the blood under the nail that makes it hurt so much. I always took an emery board and gently cut a small hole in the nail for the blood to drain out. It's pretty gross because their is so much pressure under the nail it tends to squirt out as soon as you break through but the pain relief is very welcome. Then just keep it covered with a bandaid to keep the dirt out and use an antibacterial soap to wash your hands. Keep the nail clipped short until it grows out so it doesn't get snagged or bumped. That's it.
1 person likes this
• United States
24 Jun 07
Eek I can't believe that's happened to you more than once! Great advice though, I did read up online about how to make a hole on your nail that day, but then I also read about bad infections which scared me off. But next time (Oh though I hope there isn't a next time! Lol) I'm definitely going to suck it up and do it. Thanks a lot! =)
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@gr8life (6251)
• Malaysia
24 Jun 07
Hi, there! It is such a sad thing to happen to you :( But hopefully you will love your new nail :) It never happened to me so I don't know how much it will hurt me. I guess if it happens to me, I will definitely cry like a small baby:)
1 person likes this
• United States
24 Jun 07
I'm not above crying, I definitely cried! Hehe! Good going, I hope that never happens to you either - I wouldn't even wish that kind of pain on an enemy. Lol.
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@Sir_bobby88 (8231)
• Singapore
24 Jun 07
well i have lost my toe nails years back after a basketball match , it is very pain and it takes about months for it to grow out
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• United States
24 Jun 07
Oh I've never heard of anyone losing a toenail! Ouch! I think I prefer a fingernail since toes might disrupt footwear...haha.
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• Philippines
24 Jun 07
Oh ouch!! i can't imagine that it can happen to my fingernail. It is really painful i can say.. Coz even just having wounds, its really painful, so what more if i losr my finger nail.. really ouch! But i hope you are fine now and doing good. Have a nice day ahead from Francis.
1 person likes this
• United States
24 Jun 07
Ah yes it's much better now. I'm glad it didn't hurt when the door hit it, I didn't even notice until I was trying to leave and realize I was attached to the door! Lol. It did hurt like crazy once I realized, funny how the mind works. Thanks for the reply! =)
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@4cuteboys (4099)
• United States
24 Jun 07
This never happened to me thank goodness, but it did happen to my mom! She was in pain forever from it, ouch! It looked soooo painful. I am really REALLY hoping this never happens to me. For her it took 13 months for it to be almost better and looking pretty normal. I cant remember how she did it, but I do think she slammed it in a door.
1 person likes this
• United States
24 Jun 07
I was actually told it would take 6 months to look normal, I have 3 down already. I'm hoping it won't take that long though. I also thought this would never happen to me, but after 23 years of no broken nails it finally happened. Hope you have better luck! =)
1 person likes this
25 Jun 07
i have lost my right four fingermail when i was one year old.i am so young so i dont konw how much did it paint.
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• India
24 Jun 07
yup i lost one, lest index finger's, it was very very painful
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@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
25 Jun 07
I lost my right index fingernail when I got my finger caught in a door when I was around six years old. Until I was old enough, that was the only way I could tell my right from my left hand. Not long ago, I got one of my toe nails caught in something, so I had to cut it really short which was quite difficult as I have hard nails. It bothered me because my feet do grow funny and because of the cold weather and the fact that my boots were not insulated enough, my toe nails do not grow straight. My nails grow so fast even broken ones that I just have to blink =--about a week.
• United States
25 Jun 07
Wow, my nails don't grow that quick. They're also quite soft. I've been told that it's doing well though, growing very fast considering it's almost all there and only three months ago I had almost nothing. I'll take what I can get though, no complains here! Hehe.
@winky73 (1404)
• United States
25 Jun 07
I didn't loose the all of my fingernail....but only half. I was trying to read a Sows eartag and she slung her haed to one side smashing my finger between her haed and the metal bar.All I could do was just stand there and hold my finger....I thought for sure it was broken judging by how bad it hurt. The left half of the nail filled up with blood and the pressure from that made it hurt even more.I ended up using a needle to puncture the nail....so the blood could drain and that helped with the pain.....but my nail still came loose. I could only trimm it little by little and it took nearly a month before the nail started to grow back....since I'd lost only half of it. It looked so gross and I kept a bandage over it to protect the sensitive skin where normally my nail used to be. The other time I lost the toenail of my pinkytoe after I stubbed it on one of the legs of my bed.That one I think was worse than the fingernail....because I could not walk right for a few days and when that nail came of it was still bleeding underneath.Once the nail was of it took only about a week before the new nail grew back. All I can say....it's not fun loosing a nail.....those things are there for good reason.
• United States
25 Jun 07
I know, I have never been so appreciative of fingernails in my life. LOL. I can't imagine losing a toe nail...I have stubbed my feet like a big klutz a lot of times, but never to the point of losing any. I was out for 2 days with my finger, didn't work and couldn't stand because any slight movement was horribly painful. I felt so silly telling people I couldn't make certain plans because I hurt a fingernail. Heh. Next time (not that I'm hoping for a next time!) I'm going pinch it with a needle as well.
• India
25 Jun 07
ya i had losed my thumb nail in an accident and it was very painful... and it hurt lot when some thing touched the bare part.... it took more than 3 weeks to have a new nail ......... oh i missed my nail so much
1 person likes this