Long Toenails (2024)

FAQs

What happens if you don't cut your toenails for years? ›

Longer toenails become an increasing risk for podiatric problems as you leave them to grow. Long nails are more likely to break and provide opportunities for fungal infections to take root, or for hangnails or tears to lead to painful exposure of your underlying nail bed.

Causes of long (elongated) toenails

The main cause of long or elongated toenails in the failure or inability to cut or trim your toenails. Elderly patients often find it hard to get down to their feet and cut their own toenails with age as flexibility and muscle strength decreases.

We all need to cut our toenails every six to eight weeks. You probably don't give it much thought, but it's easy to make mistakes that lead to painful problems. This makes things easier by softening the nails, and it keeps infection away.

But, leaving them too long can allow them to catch on something and tear. If that tear goes into your nail bed, this can also lead to an ingrown toenail. In general, you should keep your toenails about 1-2 millimeters (0.04-0.08 inches) above where they attach to your toes.

After a nail separates from the nail bed for whatever reason, it will not reattach. A new nail will have to grow back in its place. Nails grow back slowly. It takes about 6 months or longer for a fingernail and up to 18 months for a toenail to grow back.

“Toenails are like our appendix,” Krebsbach says. “They do serve a purpose, but we can live without them.”

It is important to make sure that you cut your toenails straight across, leaving them long enough so that the corners lie loosely against the skin at the sides. In other words, don't trim your toenails too short, don't round the edges, and also don't try to cut the toenails into a pointy V-shape.

If the toenail fungus progresses, it can go deeper into the nail, causing discoloration, thick white stuff under the toenail (keratin debris), nail thickening and crumbling, and even transmission to surrounding nails.

In medical terms this is called onychomycosis or tinea unguium,” says Batra. The fungal infection breaks down the keratin in the nail to form a white or yellow chalky substance under the nail plate. "As keratin debris spreads under the nail, the nail plate typically becomes lifted up off of the nail bed.

Cutting their own toenails can become difficult or impossible for older folks due to aches and pains that prevent them from being as flexible as they once were. For some, weakened eyesight can make seeing their toenails harder than it used to be. At All Care Foot & Ankle Center, Dr.

What do you call a person that cuts toenails? ›

Podiatrists have undergone an extensive professional training programme and are registered with the Health Care Professions Council. The majority of private podiatrists will undertake toenail cutting for a fee.

If you notice grime near the cuticle, around nail corners, or smelly stuff under your toenails, this could be a result of fungus, bacteria, or merely debris accumulation. Usually, it's a mix of infected and/or dead skin, sock lint, and soap remnants.

Although cutting toenails improperly causes a lot of problems, so does not cutting them at all. “If you were to never cut them, they would curve down and follow the toes. It would get pretty uncomfortable and dirty.” But not all toenail injuries are self-inflicted or inherited.

current record holder for the longest toenails is. Louise Hollis of Compton, Calif., who set the record. back in 1991.

Permanent nail changes: You may see permanent splitting or a decrease in size. If there is severe damage to the area where the nail starts to grow, it may not regrow.

Ingrown toenails can form when the side of a toenail begins to grow into the flesh surrounding the nail. As a result, the affected toe—most commonly the big toe—may become red, swollen, painful, and—in severe cases—infected. There are many reasons why an ingrown toenail may develop.

You should consult a doctor to examine or remove a damaged toenail, in order to prevent infection or other problems.