Why is my toenail lifting from the nail bed?

Onycholysis is when your nail separates from its nail bed. It often appears after an injury to your nail, but it may have other causes, including fungi. Treatment may only involve cutting away the separated nail as it grows out, or you may need to take antifungal medications or stop using certain nail products.

Keep the nail bed dry, clean, and covered with petroleum jelly and an adhesive bandage until the nail bed is firm or the nail has grown back. Apply a new adhesive bandage whenever the bandage gets wet. Watch for signs of infection such as increasing heat, redness, pain, tenderness, swelling, or pus.

What is the treatment for onycholysis?

1. Clip the affected portion of the nail and keep the nail(s) short with frequent trimming.
2. Minimise activities that traumatise the nail and nailbed.
3. Avoid potential irritants such as nail enamel, enamel remover, solvents, and detergents.

Nail lifting May also occur with underlying medical problems, including thyroid disease, pregnancy, some forms of infection, and rarely some forms of cancer. Other possible causes are injury to the nails, use of nail cosmetics, and aggressive manicures.

The most common cause of onycholysis is trauma. Even slight trauma can cause onycholysis when it happens repetitively — for example, the daily tapping of long fingernails on a keyboard or counter. Onycholysis also can be caused by manicure tools that are pushed beneath the nail to clear dirt or smooth the nail.

If you have a damaged toenail, you might be tempted to remove it yourself. But while damaged toenails sometimes fall off on their own, It’s not a good idea to force that process. Removing a damaged toenail yourself could lead to serious complications that end up making matters worse.

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 for a fingernail and up to 18 months for a toenail to grow back.

Once a nail detaches from a nail bed, It will not reattach. Instead, a new nail will grow back. This can take up to 18 months for a toenail, and about 6 months for a fingernail.

Onycholysis is the medical term for when your nail separates from the skin underneath it. Onycholysis is not uncommon, and has several possible causes. This condition lasts for several months, because a fingernail or toenail won’t reattach to its nail bed.

Diabetes can also restrict circulation to your feet, which creates the right conditions for fungus to grow and your toenail to fall off. When fungus grows untreated on your foot, it can sever the connective tissue between your toenail and your foot. And eventually, that causes to your toenail falling off.

Are there warning signs before my toenail will fall off?

1. Yellow, brown or white discoloration.
2. Thickening of the nail.
3. Discharge.
4. Odor.
5. And in some cases, swelling and pain.

Sometimes detached nails are associated with injury or infection. In other cases nail separation is a reaction to a particular drug or consumer product, such as nail hardeners or adhesives. Thyroid disease and psoriasis — a condition characterized by scaly patches on the skin — also can cause nail separation.

One can get sunburn under the nails, which causes onycholysis. In rare cases all the nails are affected and then it can be a sign of iron deficiency or thyroid over-activity. No matter what the cause, usually several nails are affected.
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Onycholysis is Not usually permanent, provided that you treat the underlying cause of the condition. However, if left untreated, the damage that onycholysis does to the nail bed can be permanent. This is why it is so important to treat onycholysis and discover the root cause to prevent further nail damage.

Once your toenail falls off, It can’t reattach itself And keep growing. You’ll need to wait for the new nail to grow back in its place. Depending on the cause and how much, if any, of your toenail remains, you might need additional treatment to make sure your toenail grows back properly.

Soak your foot in a combination of 1 tsp (5 g) of salt and 4 cups (1 L) of warm water for 20 minutes, 2 or 3 times each day, for the first 3 days after you lose your toenail. Cover with a fresh bandage. Ensure the nail bed is kept dry and clean until the nail bed is firm and you see signs of the nail growing back.