My husband says this is what I get for watching that awesome video about draining a bloody fingernail with a laser so many times and talking about how cool it was.
I just caught my toes in a wire dog panel and then proceeded to fall on said panel and crush my toes. (I aint nothin’ if I ain’t as graceful as a ballerina lol.) The toes are swelling and bruising, but pretty sure I didn’t break them, but one of the thin wire bars came down right across the cuticle of my large toe and I’m pretty sure I’m dying because it’s crazy painful. Now there’s some blood-tinged clear fluid coming out from underneath the cuticle. Does it mean I’ll likely lose the nail? Please say no, I have a lot of walking in boots to do next month.
I have ice on it now, but I can hardly bear the pressure of it. Anything else to do with it or does it just has to run it’s course? ( And FWIW, I have plates in the back and only 50%range of motion in my neck and hurt toes is taking me to my knees lol. )
I’m not very familiar with crush injuries, but elevated/ice/heat would seem to be in order. Ice to reduce inflammation for a while, then heat to speed healing. No tight footwear. Sleep with the foot elevated above your heart.
Sorry, it sounds painful.
They make these little foam-lined finger and toe cots that you can tape around the nail to protect it from further bumps. Check your local pharmacy.
Might as well get it over with so the healing can begin…
I broke my left big toe a couple of months ago, having lived thru it three times now, I know what to expect. The nasty black stuff has almost grown out, but I haven’t needed to go on a hike or anything given circumstances…
I had a machinist, years ago, that had a similar situation under a fingernail. I walked out into the shop to see him at the drill press with a 1/32" drill bit about to drill into his nail.
Other than ice and elevation, which have already been mentioned, I have no advice, but you do have my sympathy and hopes that it won’t hobble you in your boot-walking plans…
Aww dang, that’s my worry. Every weekend for the next three months I’ll be putting boots on and walking in the desert. And I was sure I didn’t fracture anything, but not quite as confident about it this morning because I can’t bend 2 toes yet. (But it’s probably just the swelling.)
The good news is I didn’t crush the nail itself and it looks OK. The metal wire came down about 1/4" behind the cuticle. (You can see a little white line where it hit.) It took quite a while for it to stop oozing clear-ish fluid and that’s why I thought it might have damaged the cuticle. It’s still weeping a bit, but this morning there’s no blood under the nail so I’ll probably keep it. Still hurts like the dickens though!
And of course I have 5 dogs going nuts running through the house today and it took forever to figure out why. Then I finally saw a little mouse running in panic under the washer. He gets a reprieve until I feel like getting on my feet to get him.
I think I’m good on the tetanus shot, but luckily the x-pen panel didn’t break the skin at al so I’m not too worried about it. I bent the heck out of the panel though lol.
Both of them are just a bit numb on the end and they don’t really wiggle. The big toe can move a tad bit more that the next toe, but they are both like very stiff little diving boards. You can’t really see it, but both are pretty swollen below the bruising where the toes attach to the foot. In dealing with the mouse and being on my feet, the swelling has increased and it’s throbbing. So the mouse can stay and I’m taking a pain pill.
That sounded absolutely so painful. And, I’m sure it still is…the photo you posted though makes it look like it might be OK. No expert here, of course. I do second the keeping your foot elevated and alternating ice and heat. Keep us posted.
So little update; I had a Xray a few hours ago and I haven’t talked to the doctor yet, but the results came in and say,
“corner fracture fragments are seen at the dorsal base of first distal phalanx and second middle phalanx, on lateral view.”
So pretty sure that means I have two broken toes. (No wonder they hurt like hell lol.) All the fluid from my cuticle appears to have been edema leaking out and I don’t think the nail is damaged, so that’s something at least. And now I have some cool bragging rights. (And I’m a bit claustrophobic and had two back-to-back MRIs after the Xray. I was in that damn loud machine for almost an hour and it got a bit rough, but it’s over! Yippeee!)
A Glowforge laser has too many safety features to accomplish this (the universe giving warning) in any case but something like a drill has a serious infection issue. The only point is to keep the part of you on the other side of the blood pool as alive as the rest. It can stand a lot, especially cool, but like frostbite, not forever. A hand twist drill with appropriate disinfection and the thinnest drill available could go just far enough to release the pool without touching beyond, something no laser could do.
I have only lost one nail but broken several toes including some I never knew were broken till they showed up on x-ray, and they all got treated the same way.
)
(And I’m a bit claustrophobic and had two back-to-back MRIs after the Xray. I was in that damn loud machine for almost an hour and it got a bit rough, but it’s over! Yippeee!)