Help! My Toenail Is Turning Purple.

[Scott Zincone]

I noticed the long toe, next to my big toe, on my right foot was tender yesterday and earlier today.  Tonight I noticed it has turned purple underneath the nail.  It is still tender and it is throbbing a little with every heartbeat.  No trauma has occured to the toe that I can think of.  I have heard about this with runners but know nothing about it.  So any information would be helpful such as cause, effect on training, treatment, etc.

I could have Googled it I guess but I really appreciate the personal experiences on others of this blog.  I find it to be more informative.

[Christi]

Hi Scott - My toes have been a mess since August.  That's when I really upped my mileage for St. George Marathon training.  First they turned purple and thick.  I thought I had a fungus- but went to doc and not so (thankfully).  Really it was just that the nail died and a new one was growing underneath.  Once the new nails came in everything was normal again... until I ran the marathon- now I have 2 purple toes and I'm sure I'll lose those nails again.  I wonder if my marathon shoes were actually too big.  I know running shoes should be a size bigger than regular shoes- but mine were actually 1.5 bigger.  I think my toes banged around too much in my shoes.  So I would suggest checking your shoe size and getting into a running specialty store.  Good luck.  I hope we get more feedback.  Esp. since I'm a flip flop wearing gal and I MUST have cute toes!

[Jon Allen]

Very normal, happens all the time to me.  I often have 4-6 black and or missing toe nails. 

To fix the immediate pain, I always take a pin/needle, put it in a match flame for a second (sterilize, at least I tell myself), and then carefully put it under the nail from the end of the toenail.  Don't go deep or you might poke nerves.  But you want to get it under the nail to pop the blood.  You will know you are successful when the blood oozes out.  Push on the toenail to get it all out.  No more pain!  If it builds up again, repeat.  Eventually, the toe nail will get very hard and thick, then you can trim it off cause a new one is growing underneath.  Once I get the blood out, it doesn't bug me at all.

Some people get the blood out by heating a paper clip and having it slowly burn a small hole through the toenail from the top.  This is more laborious and not any better for me than the popping method, but either works as long as you get out the blood.  That is why it throbs and hurts.

[Scott Zincone]

Oh man !  I really hate needles.  But if draining the blood takes away the pain, even though now it is only slight, then that is what I will have to do.  Burning a hole through the nail?  Runners are crazy people.   

[Scott Zincone]

Well I gave it a shot, actually a prick, and only 2 drops of blood.  Looks like more under and around the nail, but I did not want to get too crazy with the needle.  Might try again tomorrow depending on how it looks and feels.

[Jon Allen]

Is the pressure gone under the toenail?  Sometimes I have to drain at more than one spot.

[Lybi]

Ew! ew! ew! ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!  Please tell me this is not in my future.  Hope your toe gets better soon.  Mmpf!  Gotta go (gulp).

[Scott Zincone]

The pressure has definitely diminished.  There is still a little though.  I actually did do 2 pin pricks. But was scared to do to many.  I will just keep an eye on it and stick it as needed.

Lybi - I have to admit as I was writing and reading these post I wondered if this would violate the family safe language act set by Sasha.

[Lybi]

Nobody's going to go up against a policeman!  Least of all me...plus, this is serious running stuff here.  I doubt we will be able to read about this kind of stuff in running magazines, but some of us will need to know what to do about it! If you can't turn to the blog, where CAN you turn?  I just hope you will be able to...stop...with the...poking (urp) pretty soon here.  (I. e. get better soon!)

[Lulu]

I've been running for more than 27 years, and I have never had purple toe nails. Shoes too big or too small can be the culprit. Good luck with your lancing! Yuck!

[Lulu]

BTW, Lybi, you totally crack me up!

[Jon Allen]

I am pricking all summer.  I always lost toenails- some is partly due to shoes that might be a bit to small, some is due to the fact I curl my toes when I push off (so the end of my toes are pure callous), and some due to running fast on steep downhill trails, where your toes hit all over the shoes even if they are big enough.  Rarely causes any pain, though.

[Lybi]

You mean other than the minor caveman surgery with no painkillers, Jon?

[Jon Allen]

Hardly surgery- the skin is already dead for me (like a blister), so there is no pain in popping it.  Unless I miss and hit the rest of my toe.  Painkillers?  Nah, we save those for real things like stress fractures, kidney stones, and child birth.

[Scott Zincone]

Jon, just read on another topic you are an engineer with the shuttle program.  Cool job by the way.  But going back to this topic, my wife said the "guy" who gave me the advice to use a needle sounds crazy.  Then she said he even looks wierd, going by your avatar.  After I stopped laughing I pointed out it was a picture Hulk Hogan.  And now I can tell her the advice to stick a needle under my toenail came from a "Rocket Scientist."