My dear readers,
I smashed my left index finger in the car door a month or so ago and it looks like I will lose this nail within the next couple of weeks. It doesn’t look like anything new is growing in. The nail is currently a lovely shade of blue. HOW GROSS!
Any advice?
Am I doomed to wear a Band-Aid around that finger forever more? Should I find a nifty, goth-type fake fingertip to put over my existing one?
Will the new nail eventually grow in, do you think?
Seriously, I went to join hands with a teen girl to my left over the dinner blessing the other night and I swear she recoiled when she saw my Blue Pirate Nail of Doom.
ARGHHHHH, matey!
Hi Peacebang,
I recently did the same thing myself, just after starting my new call in February of this year (slammed my thumb in the door of my car).
To relieve pressure on the nail, heat a sewing needle or pin in a flame or on the element of the stove until it’s red. Then take the needle and make a small hole thru your black nail near the base of the nail. I know this sounds gross and like it might hurt, but having done this myself, I know it doesn’t.
As for the nail itself, it will eventually re-grow, unless there’s been significant damage to the finger. My nails grow fairly quickly, but it still took the better part of 6 months (until July) to grow back. I had bashed it quite hard and most of the nail was black, as it sounds like yours is too. I wore a bandaid for protection more than anything, as when the black nail started falling off, but the new one hadn’t grown in yet, it was tender.
The other thing I did to promote nail growth was use Sally Hansen’s Maximum Growth polish on it (just clear). I contemplated doing all my nails purple or black to match, but going goth isn’t really my thing.
Take it easy. Be kind to yourself. Hope this helps.
Sarah
It depends if the nail bed (the very base) of the nail is damaged, since that’s where the nail grows from. I once damaged a fingertip badly (inside a hinge) and the nail eventually grew back because it just avoided the nail bed.
There was just a thread on the WNTW forums about losing nails and what to do in the meantime. The idea of using a fake nail (trimmed) as a “prosthetic” came up — using some sort of skinsafe adhesive like wig glue or eyelash glue to keep it on if it has to attach to skin.
The new nail is hiding below. I like the idea of keeping it covered. i have seem perfectly hideous nails slide off and leave miniature perfect nails behind. It does take patience though. Trust that the little perfect nail is trying to get out. What about white gloves. There pretty and yeah people will think you are excentric but they know that already.
I smashed my pinky when lifting weights some years ago, and after a while with a blue/black nail, it came off, and very slowly the new nail started growing back out. Have patience (a few months at least) 🙂
This strikes me as a sermon illustration…that perfect new baby nail hiding, waiting to grow out, as our perfect Christ-like selves are waiting for us to shed the old junky bruised self. and there is so much of our old stuff to get out of the way!
I lost most of my nails at least halfway down the nailbed last year during chemo. It looked really gross, but they did grow back. I like Qtica’s Natural Nail Growth Stimulator: http://www.artofbeauty.com/scrpt/scr.dll/ShowLine?cat=30&line=89&brand=1
I dropped a big rock on a pinky toenail when I was about six, and the replacement grew in crooked. Permanent momento of blissful years in Colorado, but hard to polish. I would have a doctor check the injury to the nailbed to avoid this. Someone (probably giving me a pedicure) told me that would have helped, but hey, it’s just a tiny toe that no one ever sees… and when you’re six, you don’t care… I distinctly remember my shock as it came in sideways, a hint of the fastidious years ahead…
When I got pirate finger at age 12, I talked my mom (who otherwise would have been scandalized) into buying me a bottle of black fingernail polish, so that they would all be the same color. You may not think it appropriate for clergy wear, but at least it would prevent teen recoil!