toe nail removal

**yannah** · 10-21-2008 01:42 PM

my podiatrist scheduled me to come in and do a partial toenail removal. However when I went in he changed his mind. He wanted to see how I do with the antifungal and if that doesn't work, he wants to remove both big toenails.

is this contraversail? I think it is. has anyone had that done?

**sable_032592** · 10-21-2008 03:14 PM

i 've never had them removed by anyone before, but my big toe on my left foot came off in february of 07, grew back about 1/2 cm and then fell off again, right now, i have no toe nail on the left big toe, but the right one grew back eventually... i was on the antifungal stuff, i can't remember the name, it's that pill with the creepy little thing that goes under the toe nail in the commercial... i took it for 6 months and even though my nails aren't cracked and broken anymore, the nail still isn't growing on the left foot...

my dermo said it's because i have excessive eczema and it's reached the nail bed, i found it weird to go see a dermo for this, but my gp said that nails are part of the skin... oh well... hope it works for you...

**slipperyelm** · 10-21-2008 03:30 PM

Is it an oral or topical antifungal? I've never liked the idea of oral anti-fungals. Did he counsel you on possible side effects of the anti fungal?

**yannah** · 10-21-2008 03:46 PM

it an oral antifungal.....

very nervous about it. but my liver function has come back fine. but yeah, I hear ya.

**enigmalady777** · 10-21-2008 03:54 PM

My daughter, who isn't diabetic, contracted one of those really nasty funguses in both her big toes and eventually they both fell off. It was kind of gross looking for a while, but they grew back after a few months.

The doctor didn't want to give her the oral antibiotic because she was afraid of liver problems associated with it. She had her use an ointment (OTC) instead.

**sable_032592** · 10-21-2008 04:25 PM

i've tried 4 different topical antifungals and they did nothing to help, the oral one did a little better than the topical... but either way, i still have no toenail on the left big toe... not sure if it's a diabetic thing though...

**yannah** · 10-21-2008 04:58 PM

it is not a diabetic thing exaclty but the choice for toenail removal is.

**notme** · 10-21-2008 05:51 PM

My father had ALL of his toenails removed as a treatment for a fungus he picked up when he was in Hawaii years ago. His toenails are yellow and very thick and he is very self conscious about them. A doctor suggested he try the toenail removal and he did it. His toenails grew back and the fungus was still there. He has tried every topical medication out there to no avail.

There is a new treatment out there now that involves laser light. It is in the testing stages and my father was part of the clinical trial. He was never willing to damage his liver with the oral medications so he decided to try the clinical trial. So far, so good. There is some improvement and they have been doing the laser treatment now for about six months. He just recently went in for a complete laser treatment again since they are starting to notice an improvement.

Hang in there yannah. I am sure the problem is frustrating for you, but there are doctors that are working on it without doing damage to other parts of your body.

**EeyoreButterfly** · 10-21-2008 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by sable_032592

i 've never had them removed by anyone before, but my big toe on my left foot came off in february of 07, grew back about 1/2 cm and then fell off again, right now, i have no toe nail on the left big toe, but the right one grew back eventually... i was on the antifungal stuff, i can't remember the name, it's that pill with the creepy little thing that goes under the toe nail in the commercial... i took it for 6 months and even though my nails aren't cracked and broken anymore, the nail still isn't growing on the left foot...

my dermo said it's because i have excessive eczema and it's reached the nail bed, i found it weird to go see a dermo for this, but my gp said that nails are part of the skin... oh well... hope it works for you...

I completely misread your post at first. When you said your big toe came off, I thought you meant your actual toe fell off and then grew back! I was trying so hard to figure out how that could be!

**princesslinda** · 10-21-2008 05:56 PM

Oral Lamisil generally works best for the toenail fungus. The topicals don't get deep into the nail bed. Usually you would take a 3 month course of it. They do liver function tests before starting it and then 6 weeks in and then at the end. Sometimes this works to clear the fungus for awhile, but most of the time it comes back and requires additional 3 month treatments. Hubby did a 3 month Lamisil course that worked very well....4 years later it came back.

We have several patients who take the Lamisil in the dermatology office I do transcription for.....in the 3 years i've been doing the transcription, no one has had to come off the Lamisil due to liver problems.

Its also recently available in generic form, which is great as it was quite expensive.

I think personally i'd try the oral Lamisil and see if it worked before having anything surgical done to my feet/toes.

**enigmalady777** · 10-21-2008 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by sable_032592

i've tried 4 different topical antifungals and they did nothing to help, the oral one did a little better than the topical... but either way, i still have no toenail on the left big toe... not sure if it's a diabetic thing though...

No, it's not a diabetic thing. That nasty fungus can be picked up just about anywhere. In my daughter's case, she got it because she was constantly wearing socks and sneakers and her feet would sweat really bad. The doctor told her the fungus thrives in that type of environment. We thought maybe it was from the pedicure she had done, but I also had one done (at the same salon) and I didn't pick up the fungus.

**yannah** · 10-22-2008 05:36 AM

my podiatrist thiks it is no big deal to remove my toenails, but I googled it for people with diabetes and got scared. (bad habit I have that googling.)

**notme** · 10-22-2008 05:46 AM

Don't feel bad yannah, I do that too. I had surgery done yesterday on my right foot. It was a repeat surgery of last year and he was trying a new procedure called the Mini Tightrope. I started reading online and it scared me to death. However, when I went in to talk to him before the surgery, he assured me that what was written online was old information and that he was certain my outcome would be better. So, I had it done. At some point you have to trust your doctor's advice and not what you read on the internet or none of us would do anything. There are a lot of bad news stories, but as many success stories. Bad news travels much faster.

**sable_032592** · 10-22-2008 05:37 PM

you didn't misread it, i forgot a word in there, namely, "nail"...

so no, my toe didn't fall off, the toe nail did

sorry about that...

Originally Posted by EeyoreButterfly

I completely misread your post at first. When you said your big toe came off, I thought you meant your actual toe fell off and then grew back! I was trying so hard to figure out how that could be!

**slipperyelm** · 10-23-2008 10:29 AM

Yannah, I think it is best to do a surgery when your BGs are under good control. That's the main thing. If I had toenail problems that were likely to eventually require removal, I would want to have it done sooner rather than later. If you know you've got good BGs now, do it while you have good BGs. Maybe you'll wait for 20 years (yes, some people do suffer with horrendous, painful nail problems that long before seeking help) and by then maybe you won't be able to have such good BGs. On the other hand maybe you will being doing even better with your diabetes. But I think it is good that you started to tackle the problem right away, whether you go for antifungals first or surgery first.

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