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Toenail Removal Recovery
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After several years of trying unsuccessfully to nurse both my big toenails back to health after breaking them off and developing ongoing fungus issues and now various degrees of constant discomfort, and not wanting to do the course of oral anti-fungals, I'm heading in on Monday to have both nails permanently removed. I've read back over the few threads here that talk about the procedure, but I'm wondering if anyone else that has had the procedure done has any suggestions, comments, tips, etc, on post-procedure care. Anything you discovered that helped/hurt that the doc didn't cover? Anything you wish you would have asked going in, or had known? Feeling pretty good about the decision, but also would like to be as prepared as possible so I can get back and into ski boots and climbing shoes as soon as possible. |
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I only had partial removal but my big takeaway was this: Do not rush the recovery time, it'll set you back, and end up taking longer to heal than it would have if you just followed directions in the first place. Wear a solid shoe during recovery that'll protect you when you bump into something. |
Paul L wrote: While I did not go the permanent removal route, a few years ago I had to have one of my big toenails removed. Just the thought of putting on a ski boot was unbearable for at minimum 4 weeks. |
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Only had 1/3 of the big toenail surgically removed, but Warm salt water soaks helped keep it clean and feel good. Small light wrap on toe before throwing really tight shoes on (my experience was with track spikes in college, but I wore them like a glove and sock-less*) No issue with sneakers and running to discomfort by the next day. I would imagine Ski Boots will be plenty good, but i'm a boarder so I dont know the plight of the Ski boot. |
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Hi Paul, i apologize for not getting back to you. I had both of mine "permanently" removed almost exactly 2 years ago (ie 12/19). In terms of the procedure, the only painful bit was when the shot to numb up my toes. that little fucker kind of hurt, but it was brief. in terms of recovery, I think i was pretty much able to walk ok the next day (ie go to work, etc). i basically just had my toes wrapped in gauze, probably with some sort of neosporin stuff, and wore loose running shoes. i started climbing in loose shoes on easy stuff maybe 4 or 6 weeks later, with a little bit of soreness (but not bad). i think i started wearing my normal, but not super tight climbing shoes at around 8 weeks. then, started crack climbing again at around 10 weeks. if i remember correctly, i used a light gauze wrap and neosporin during this entire period as well, and wore a really thin sock (panty hose material works best) to keep it all together. for the most part i have been very happy with this decision. my toes felt infinitely better for at least a year or more. then, my toenails started trying to grow back a bit. i had a brief period during the late spring of 2021 where they were starting to hurt a little bit in a similar fashion as before the procedure. i took a wood file and filed the new nail bits as thin as i could. this has successfully addressed this issue so far. hope this info helps, and good luck!
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Thanks for the responses. Slim, no worries on no email response, I figured you just used a dummy address to catch MP communications or something. Bummer about the regrowth, it sounds like that is exceedingly rare after the procedure. I'm just back from the double toenail removal, and I have to say it went so much easier than I expected. Maybe it's nearly a lifetime of working on my feet combined with a decade of climbing, but I basically didn't feel a thing. The doctor sprayed my toe with a super cold numbing spray before injecting the numbing agent, so I didn't even feel the needle going in. She described the medicine itself as feeling like a hornets sting, but I felt next to nothing. A couple little tingles as she moved to a few spots on the bottom of the toe, but it was 1/100th the pain I would experience when my 8yr old son stepped on my toe. My nails were already super short and I didn't have a lot of nail bed, so the doctor thinks I should be able to start light climbing and skiing in 2-3 weeks as long as the healing goes well (ie no infections or anything). Suggested care is a daily epsom salt soak followed by triple antibiotic and a bandaid for two weeks, then just stop everything and let the skin harden off. I'll keep this thread posted as a reference for anyone in the future. |
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I plan to get mine removed in the next month or so. I have 6 nails that are infected but most of the pain is from the big 2. Not sure yet how many I'll get removed. Paul, Please keep us updated on the procedure and recovery! |
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At a little over a week, I think healing is going well. The most painful days so far were definitely 4-6, though I did fly on day 6 which I think added quite a bit to the discomfort. I was doing a padded gauze pad over the bandaids on each toe when wearing shoes, but have moved to just a padded band-aid. The extra bulk of the gauze pad seemed to actually create more pressure and discomfort when in shoes for any kind of time. Doc's care instructions say just antibiotic ointment and band-aids, and one epsom salt soak a day, until next Tuesday when I'm supposed to let the scabs form and skin start to harden off. |
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Hey Paul, Wondering how the recovery is coming along? |
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The recovery is going well, I think. I did notice around the time I posted here last that some of the pain I was still feeling in my toes wasn't actually from the surgery or the nailbeds, but from how I was subconsciously trying to adjust my walk or how my feet were sitting in my shoes to "baby" the big toes, which was causing joint pain and discomfort. Once I started focusing on just walking normally and not trying to protect the toes, most of the sort of deeper feeling discomfort went away after a couple of days. I stopped the soaks and let the hardening off begin right at 2 weeks. It took a couple of days for scabs to form, and they are still there and don't seem to be in a hurry to come off. There is no discomfort from the former nail sites, though. I did go climbing the day after my soaks stopped, w/ bandaids still on the toes. I took it pretty easy, just light bouldering, and really didn't have any discomfort. I've been getting in a couple sessions a week since then and things continue to feel good. I have been away from home since the surgery and only packed my loosest all-day trad shoe, so I'll see how things feel in my other more aggressive shoes when I get home next week. I'm not expecting any issues, though. |
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Just in case anyone is following this or considering the toenail removal surgery.....I am 2 months recovered now from having 8 nails removed under local anesthesia (2 separate days). The first night was the worst as far as pain, and I didn't take any meds after the first day. I didn't get any infection and tried to keep off my feet as much as possible for the first 2 weeks. I was able to climb a little bit after 1 month and now 2 months down the road I feel like I can climb normally with no more pain. Before and after pics -   also, here is a good blog with over 1k comments of others who have had this surgery - I found this a good read as I was lying in bed the first few days after surgery - https://tdhurst.com/ingrown-toenail-post-op-care/ https://tdhurst.com/ingrown-toenail-removal-surgery-infection/ |
