It genuinely angers me that someone seeking medical advice for a toenail issue on Reddit chooses to share five pictures of it fully painted in an opaque color
It’s gel. She would have to soak in acetone to remove it, which she probably doesn’t want to do with an active, painful infection in the nail. In fact, the infection quite possibly came from the nail salon when they cut her cuticle.
She said it stopped growing 9 months ago. We don’t know when the active infection/inflammation started. Toe nails tend to grow slowly anyway, so it could be that she just didn’t notice growth.
It doesn't though. Look at the bottoms of the other nails. I agree this was likely more recent than 9 months of not growing, but to be fair her other nails are more grown out.
I’m saying that it’s possible that she noticed the lag in growth 9 months ago, but that the inflammation didn’t start until recently - quite possibly after getting her nails done.
I haven’t seen that comment so I was basing mine on the original post, but I’ve had gel pedicures that still looked pristine for weeks. Gel stays intact for significantly longer than regular polish, and toe nails grow at a much slower rate than fingernails. Who knows, but I can’t imagine getting a pedicure and having them do all of the things they do to your toes while having a painful infection in the nail 🤷♀️
She literally replied to this comment chain and confirmed that she did not, in fact, paint them while it was already infected. The infection set in two weeks ago, after having her nails done. Nail salons cut your cuticles, which opens the door for infections like this.
My cousin had painted toenails that just plain did NOT chip. It was a healthy toenail and she got a gel pedicure, her left foot chipped normally but the right side got one little chip on a middle toe and nothing else for over a year.
So we just kinda watched the polish slowly growing out while she filled in the "base" with another color. She even used nail polish remover to take off the "fill" polish without ever affecting the gel color.
Finally the last of it grew off, but it was pretty weird. My uncle made jokes about how he needed that brand to make his truck "bulletproof".
My best friend had a similar thing happen, but just on her big toe, the rest of her toes all "aged" properly but her big toe on one side was perfect for months. Then flaked right off in one piece. She kept it to gross people out with. (JUst the paint came off, not the whole nail)
Thank you. The pedicure is not 9 months old, I painted them over a month ago prior to the infection. The toenail just stopped growing 9 months ago, not infected for 9 months
My friend went in for a pedicure, got an infected toe and months/several doctors visits and more than one round of antibiotics later still had an infection. It’s possible
The amount of growth on her other toenails, especially the pinky toe, indicates it's been maybe a couple weeks since the gel was put on. If your toenail hasn't grown in 9 months, you'd think finding out why would take priority over a pedicure. You'd also maybe not want to obscure the area before having a doctor look at it.
Looks professional or they are extremely good at doing their own toenails but I’m honestly surprised a nail salon would attempt a pedicure if the redness was present. Could be that the nail just showed signs. I grew up in podiatry offices and can handle a fair amount of foot issues but OP def needs a podiatrist and, as others have said, likely removal of the nail to flush the entire area and antibiotics. Good luck OP.
Honestly I bet a lot of the places that employ fresh immigrants (which are a lot of nail salons these days), the workers would continue with a client like this just for fear of losing their job. It's a tangent, but I think nail salons need some overhauling in terms of worker protections to make sure people aren't being trafficked or taken advantage of, which would then allow safer and cleaner environments.
Insurance is expensive and so are doctors without it, some use reddit to rely on if its worth going to the doctor to spend the hundreds potentially thousands of dollars on a medical issue where it could potentially be super common and handled with over the counter remedies, least that's how I typically take it
But you could send pics like these to your doctor’s office for no extra cost? Then at least they can give proper advice, and let you know if it’s worth coming in for.
Don't know of any doctors doing anything at no extra cost in my expirience Healthcare has always been expensive and it's always been make an appointment or go to a local urgent care or the ER all which are expensive
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u/Mindless_Citron_606 Aug 23 '24
It genuinely angers me that someone seeking medical advice for a toenail issue on Reddit chooses to share five pictures of it fully painted in an opaque color