Women Toenail curling in on itself?

[MaryA]

I have posted asking about DD's toenails before. They are thick and yucky and I was assured that it's a gymnast thing and comes from repeated trauma. I believe that the information I got was along the lines of, it may improve once she's no longer doing gymnastics, but that she still may not want to wear open toed shoes at her wedding. I did ask the doctor about it at DD's last pediatrician appt. and she did not see evidence of fungus or anything else yucky.

This week DD said something to me about maybe having an ingrown toenail and I wanted to have it looked at before she goes away to camp, but when I saw it, I think it's maybe a little more involved than that.

Both edges of her big toenail on one foot seem to be trying to grow under, like they're trying to form a tube. She says it's a little sore to the touch, though it doesn't look red or inflamed (like you would expect to see in an ingrown toenail). Actually, one of my toes looks similar, but it's not my big toe so it's not as noticeable. What little I could find about it online seems to indicate that it can also be caused by "trauma" and I'm sure her poor gymnast's feet have seen lots of trauma. (Note... do not look at pictures of nail deformities on the internet. EEEWWW! )

I do plan on having it looked at, but she is going to gymnastics camp tomorrow and then on vacation after. If it is something that needs to be "fixed" it looks like the fixing it would require some major medical intervention, so I'm going to hold off for now. Just wondering if this is something anyone else has experienced?

 

[raenndrops]

My father and my ex-sister-in-law both have this problem.
My xsil had "minor" surgery at least twice on the offending big toe. Each time, she couldn't walk right for a week and had to wear a foot "boot."
My dad has had the issue for YEARS. He only had it medically dealt with once (did not require a foot boot... the doctor pried up the corners and stuck what was basically cotton fluff under there in the hopes that the nail would grow out past the sides of the toe before curling ). Usually, he just has me take care of it... and he also has extra thickness in his toenails (from the 30+ years he worked at a limestone quarry around all of the lime and dolomite... which has magnesium carbonate, aka gym chalk, in it). Gym chalk could possibly be contributing to her thickened nails. As for the curling under, it kind of goes with the thickened nails.

 

[teksquad]

The only experience I can offer in terms of toenail surgery and recovery for a gymnast is my daughter's ingrown toenails. Hers were bothering her during practice- they would bleed into the cuticle bed, and make turns and landings painful. She had the ingrown part removed about 3 weeks before a meet. She was unable to practice for two days right after, and from then on, she kept her toes covered during practice (a challenge!) because they were still draining for about 2 weeks after the procedure. At three weeks (meet week) they were still a little tender, but they had stopped draining. At week 4, everything seemed pretty much normal.

If they aren't bothering your daughter too much, I'd just wait till after camp and vacation to deal with it. My daughter's toenails may have been different from your daughter's, but she wrapped her toes with a strip of athletic tape, which kept the tissues around the nail from moving so much during turns, and that helped. (before the procedure) I wouldn't wait till a meet was fast-approaching though! (-:

Hope she has a great camp week!