Case reportRetronychia: Report of two cases
Section snippets
Case 1
A 60-year-old female presented with a 4-month history of painful left great toenail changes following trauma. Although she initially sought medical advice, she was reassured and advised expectant observation. Later, she presented to our department because of progressively worsening pain that impaired her walking.
Physical examination revealed a massive subungual hematoma of the left great toenail along with proximal nail fold erythema, swelling, and tenderness (Fig 1, A). Avulsion was performed
Case 2
A 30-year-old female presented with a 3-month history of stunted nail growth and painful swelling of her left great toe that did not respond to topical steroids and systemic antibiotics. Her symptoms were precipitated by wearing, on multiple occasions and over a period of 4 weeks, a pair of “steel-toed boots” that pressed against her left great toenail. The right boot had a proper fit, and her right great toenail was not affected.
On examination, the left great toenail exhibited yellowish
Discussion
Ingrown nails affect predominantly the toenails and result from embedding of the nail plate into the periungual skin. Because of the outward direction of growth of the nail, embedding occurs into the lateral nail folds or the distal digital pulp.
In contrast, retronychia involves embedding of the nail into the proximal nail fold, and is a process that may involve the fingernails as well as the toenails. Retronychia starts with disruption of the longitudinal growth of the nail because of an acute
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Cited by (0)
Funding sources: None.
Conflicts of interest: None declared.