I have two big black toe nails hanging around from Whistler this year (End of July). I’ve never had black toe nails before from running (that was my first marathon) and I’m wondering how long these damn unsightly things stick around for? I feel like they’re “loosening” up a bit, but there doesn’t really seem to be a lot going on down there in terms of regrowth or anything.
Wondering this as well… I’ve never had a toe problem after tens of thousands of miles run but I jammed my big toe playing basketball last week and the whole nail has been dark purple since. It only hurt for about 48 hours, doesn’t really feel any different now than normal but it’s something ugly to look at.
Will it just fall off one day? Is there a chance it will go back to ‘normal’?
I just pull mine off. Why wait?
I’ve had some stick around for years. Seriously. Not sure if that’s a good thing.
I think mine fell off after a couple of months. I didn’t pull them off because I’m weird about my toes.
Took about 2-3 months for my big toenail to start to ‘lift’ off. After a week or so of that I sort of helped it out.
Took mine about four months to finally come off.
Took 3-4 months for me. Then the nail quit being black. Then I popped the nail out of it’s socket (for lack of better words) Took another 3-4 months before my toenail finally grew back all the way.
I’d worry more about how long they take to grow back. I had a nail fall off after a 50K trail race last september and it took about 10 months until it was back to normal and only because I started wearing silicone toe covers to protect it during my long runs.
5 or 6 months. Let it fall off on it’s own! Or at least wait until it is barely hanging on.
Wondering this as well… I’ve never had a toe problem after tens of thousands of miles run but I jammed my big toe playing basketball last week and the whole nail has been dark purple since. It only hurt for about 48 hours, doesn’t really feel any different now than normal but it’s something ugly to look at.
Will it just fall off one day? Is there a chance it will go back to ‘normal’?
I’ve only had one black toenail experience, but it didn’t involve the entire nail. It just grew out slowly without falling off. Maybe there’s a chance for yours?
Same results. Took mine 5 months to fall off.
And it didn’t ‘fall off’, i just grew out and cracked at an odd angle.
Turned into a ‘snaggletooth’ (I think that’s the medical term for it) and it’s a real PITA for long runs now.
I’m worried it’s going to get infected as I’m just starting to train for early season 2015 marathon.
Mine took at least 6 months after my first marathon.
It was kinda cool though, as I could entertain my kids friends at backyard barbeques.
They would watch as ants crawled under the void of my warped and swollen toenails.
My kids thought it was disgusting.
Seriously though, the dead skin/callous that forms under the injured toe seemed to push my new toenail to the side and that was very annoying/painful…
I now go to a Chiropodist ,the man is a friggin wizard with toenail cutters, and he also recommended drying my toes with rubbing alcohol and to kill any bacteria he uses iodine.
Good Luck
Read this while eating. Not my brightest moment. 
5 or 6 months. Let it fall off on it’s own! Or at least wait until it is barely hanging on.
This. I dropped a weight on the nail bed of my big toe in college. For around 10 years, if I looked at it funny it would turn black and fall off. 30 years later it still ain’t right. But it did give me a lot of experience of the best way to handle them.
The new nail will grow underneath. It is best to leave the old nail there to both protect the nail bed and to keep the channels on the side that the nail grows though. A couple times the nail came off soon after tuning black. It takes a new nail about 6 months or more to grow in. If the nail comes off right away the channels at the sides kind of grow up and you end up getting ingrown toes pretty easily. If it stats getting snagged you can trim it up, but try to keep it there.
My favorite was when the whole nail was intact and the new one had grown all the way out. I was able to pull the whole nail off in one big gross chunk, like The Fly. I tossed it to my wife who had no idea what I was doing. She did not appreciate the accomplishment near as much as I did.
Mine typically take ~6weeks to detach. My wife helped me pick out some nice neon nail polish to use…which looks way better on the toe than the black nail.
I rate this entire thread 10 Eeeeewwwws.
When my nails go black it’s always the second biggest toe. When they fall out it’s normally after 2-3 weeks. Sometimes they’ve not gone fully black though, they’ve gone a very dark purple but then stayed in and the discolouration has gradually grown out.
I’ve found that keeping the nails trimmed and wearing a good sock/shoe combo has stopped the problem anyway. Have run several marathons without any black or purple nails since figuring out a pair of shoes which worked well for me.
I had one for so long that I eventually got another one underneath.
I had one for so long that I eventually got another one underneath.
Most of the time what happens for me. I’ve had plenty of them over the years. It seems like each time the nail comes back a little smaller and jagged looking. Takes up to a year for me.