Why toenails fall off

Treating fungal toenail infections usually involves oral or topical antifungal medications. Depending on the severity of your infection, your doctor may prescribe both. Oral antifungal drugs are usually much more effective than over-the-counter topical treatments. They also reduce the risk of your new toenail getting infected as well.

You may need to take medication for up to 12 weeks. Oral antifungal medications can produce many side effects, so tell your doctor about any unusual symptoms you have while taking them, such as a rash or fever. You can also try home remedies to treat a fungal toenail infection. In rare cases, you may need surgery to permanently remove the affected toenail.

Psoriasis is an autoimmune condition that causes the skin cells to build up. While it often appears on the skin, it can affect the toenails as well. However, sometimes the buildup of skin cells in your nail bed can cause your toenail to fall off.

Try to avoid removing extra skin under your nail with a sharp object, which can make your toenail more likely to detach. Instead, soak your feet in warm water and smooth the edges of your remaining toenail with a file. Keeping your toenails and feet moisturized can also help. Find a great selection of moisturizers here. Your doctor may prescribe topical steroids to rub into your toenail and cuticle. They may also suggest phototherapy.

This treatment involves exposing your affected toes to UV rays. In rare cases, you may need to have the rest of your toenail removed. Nail psoriasis and nail fungus can look very similar. However, depending on the cause and the size of the lost toenail, it could take up to two years. You can reduce your risk of losing a toenail in the future by keeping your feet clean and your toenails smooth and short.

Peeling nails can result from trauma to the nail. Fighting Diabetes? This Discovery Leaves Doctors Speechless! Blood Sugar Blaster. The content you see here is paid for by the advertiser or content provider whose link you click on, and is recommended to you by Revcontent. As the leading platform for native advertising and content recommendation, Revcontent uses interest based targeting to select content that we think will be of particular interest to you.

We encourage you to view your opt out options in Revcontent's Privacy Policy. Want your content to appear on sites like this? Increase Your Engagement Now! Want to report this publisher's content as misinformation? Submit a Report. Remove Content Link? Please choose a reason below: Fake News. Not Interested. Submit Cancel. If you do have a fungal infection, he may recommend oral or topical antifungal medications.

He may also use FDA-approved laser therapy to kill the fungus and allow your nail to grow back, fungus-free. Over-the-counter antifungal treatments may work temporarily, but the infection usually recurs. The skin condition psoriasis can cause changes to your fingernails and toenails, too. Psoriasis is an autoimmune disorder, which means your body mistakenly attacks healthy tissue, such as skin cells and nail cells.

The cells in your finger or toe skin actually produce nails by pushing out and compacting skin cells, until they harden as a protective, keratin-rich protective barrier. When you have psoriasis, your skin produces new cells before it sheds the old ones. Over time, your skin may develop thick, rashy patches known as plaques that could take on a silvery look due to the layers of old skin cells.

When psoriasis affects the skin underneath your nails, the plaques push against the nail, loosening it. Toenails that are affected by psoriasis may have the look of a fungal infection. You might notice:. They may also hurt. If your toenail is missing, contact us for diagnosis and treatment. Call our office in Scottsdale, Arizona , at for an in-person or telehealth appointment, or request an appointment online.

You can also contact us here on our website. You have a nail fungus A nail fungal infection , known as onychomycosis, is one of the most common reasons that toenails detach from the nail bed and fall off.