Toddler Fingernail bruised and lifted off

[Barbiekc84]

Hi all,

This is not an enhancement query - my nephew, who is 2, jammed his finger in a car door. The nail bruised and within a week the whole nail lifted from the nail bed. As he was picking at it, the doctor (on the phone as my sister could not get an appointment for 2 weeks), suggested she wait for him to be sleeping and trim the nail as far back to the cuticle as possible. When she attempted this the nail came away whole. She is worried that the nail will not grow back fully or it has caused a weakness in that nail which he will permantly have.

She is wondering if the advice from the doctor was the right thing to do?

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what my sister should do now or any experience of this so I can put her mind a rest?

Thanks
Kelly xx

 

[Teebster]

My son did exactly the same thing when he was 4; 10 years ago. I had the same advice and exactly the same happened it just came off. No bleeding just came off and the nail bed was left clearly visible and not damaged with just a soft covering.

His nail is fine and you can not see anything different at all. Children tend are better at using their "natural" ability to protect themselves when young as time is their own and they are not rushing and not thinking, so he did not damage the unprotected nail bed at all and the nail grew back alot quicker than an adults would. If your worried, always still go for the appointment just in case.

hth xxx

 

[kennedia]

Sorry don't really know as this has never happened to me. Sounds horribly painful though. I would take the advice given above, however 2 weeks sounds like a long time to wait in this case. If you are worried, esp. about infection setting etc, then take him to a & e.

Hope he feels better soon.

Joy x

 

[Barbiekc84]

Thanks for your replies

there was no bleeding and the nail bed does not look sore at all. I think her main concern is for it to grow back ok. He is not bothered by it so it can't be hurting him.

Kelly x

 

[kennedia]

should be fine then xx

 

[geeg]

Time will tell but usually the nails grow back and in many cases stronger than before.

Warn her though that when the nail starts to grow it will look very very strange and not to panic at how it looks. The new nail tends to grow straight up in the air for a time until it re-attaches to the side walls and often one thinks the nail will look really freaky. It won't. Just give it time (about 4-6 months so it is not an over night thing).

 

[marioned]

My daughter took the whole top of her finger off when she was about 7, right at where you start to see the nail growing. It was all stitched back on, minus the nail which had come off. The nail grows fine now, only looking a little strange if you look closely at it. The doc said she was young, so it should grow back fine, as young tissue seems to be able to heal/regenerate better. I'm fairly confident your nephew's nail will grow back fine. My dughter's only problem with all this now is that she usually passes out if someone talk about finger injuries! LOL

 

[Jeni Giles]

Time will tell but usually the nails grow back and in many cases stronger than before.

Warn her though that when the nail starts to grow it will look very very strange and not to panic at how it looks. The new nail tends to grow straight up in the air for a time until it re-attaches to the side walls and often one thinks the nail will look really freaky. It won't. Just give it time (about 4-6 months so it is not an over night thing).

Keep the area as clean as possible- a small finger cot for outside sand box play works well- tape if needed. ( I know it's difficult on a 2 year old boy- my son, now 10, lost his index nail at that age- you would never know it now)

Also take care of the nail bed to prevent a callus or hardened epithelial tissue from causing the nail to grow uneven or rigid. Solar oil is a charm for that- I waited until he was asleep, really the only way to insure I could keep it moisturized, and put a couple of drops on while he slept.

Now he has absolutely gorgeous nail beds, nice strong nails and they grow amazingly fast. I'm a little jealous.... he's got the kind of natural nails that most women would kill for. Stinker!!

 

[blingbling]

My son did exactly the same thing when he was 4; 10 years ago. I had the same advice and exactly the same happened it just came off. No bleeding just came off and the nail bed was left clearly visible and not damaged with just a soft covering.

His nail is fine and you can not see anything different at all. Children tend are better at using their "natural" ability to protect themselves when young as time is their own and they are not rushing and not thinking, so he did not damage the unprotected nail bed at all and the nail grew back alot quicker than an adults would. If your worried, always still go for the appointment just in case.

hth xxx

my son totaly did thee same kind thing his got slammed in a door. it came off and the grew back the nail was silghtly disfigerd for a couple of years then he got scarlet fever and it came off again and now it s fine looks normal.