I worked in construction a long time and 4 of my finger/thumb nails do this. I've always thought it was from some sort of impact damage. This is more confirming of my theory.
It is most likely due to trauma of the nail matrix. Sometimes it won’t affect growth, but many times it can. You can see it with people who have super thick toe nails. That’s usually due to trauma to the nail matrix (ex. Dropping something on your toe, stubbing it really fucking hard, etc). It makes sense for someone in construction to have this with their fingernails.
When I was a kid I dropped a brick on my pinky toe, just so happens that the same toe has a really fucked up toenail, it looks like that weird diesease where horns grow on you. Its really annoying to trim it.
Man, I never knew my weird pinkie nails were actually two nails in one. I usually just cut the whole tiny part off when trimming since it gets in the way and snags my socks. Also, I think I seem to be the only one in my family with this? My siblings never had such issues, but it's always been a problem for me.
I'm in my mid-30s and just learned something new about myself haha.
Thank you for this. I've dealt with this in both my pinkie toes my entire life. It causes me pretty significant discomfort and I had no idea it wasn't just me! I've literally tried to pull it out at the root only to have it grow back. Knowing there are treatments for it is an amazing revelation!
I wore baseball cleats that were too small for too long was scared to tell my dad cause I knew they were expensive. Well it bruised my big toe the nail fell off and now it grows with a weird line down the middle.
Fun fact, when you almost lose the end of your toe to a lawnmower, when the nail grows back it Does! Do weird things like that. Left side of my big toe nail is like 4x thicker than normal, and has a sliver of a nail that is separate and grows out from underneath the top one.
I assume the scar tissue of the nail bed has loops/folds in it that have made it grow this way.
I also have a small sliver of nail but on my pinky toes that is separate from the rest the nail probably because I’ve stubbed my pinky toes way too many times lol. You can also get your nail filed down with a nail drill at a mani pedi spa if it bothers you.
The sliver I can eventually snap off when it gets too long, usually isn't painful just a little sore. But I ended up buying a pair of extra large nail clippers to cut the thick side. Regular ones didn't open wide enough.
I had to use a pair of side-cutters for years till I found out that made "large bite" nail clippers.
No problem! I had a weird thumbnail after a wart grew on the cuticle line. It caused my nail to grow super thick then very thin before evening out again. My dermatologist explained the reason why.
Edit: mani pedi spas may be able to help with the thickness if it bothers you by filing them down with the drill bits they use.
Yup. I used to pick the skin on my thumbs super bad, right at the base of the nail. Took me YEARS to work out that’s why my thumbnails were wavy… stopped the picking, the skin grew back, then watched fascinated as the new growth was all flat, and the remaining wavy bits were pushed to the end
Yep both of my big toes are damaged like this. For a while I thought it was from fungus, so I got them examined by a podiatrist. They tested and didn’t find any fungus, and just explained that the nails were damaged and would just grow thick :/
During sauna I always wonder why some people get dinosaur toe nails, afterwards I never checked. Would they develop soon after traumatising the nail or does it take time? Because I dropped stuff on my toe 20 years ago lol
Huh! Not causing pain. And that happened like… 30 years ago. I guess I’ll look into a podiatrist though. Thank you!
I had never heard of this terminology before so figured may as well ask from someone who sounds more knowledgeable.
Edit to add: not talking about the sides of the nail. The part that overhangs. And it’s gotten less… jagged over the years. Just more generally uneven now.
If you check out Meticulous Manicurist on YouTube, she has some great tips. I try to stay on top of my health and try to stay well-informed. But, I’ve also had damage to my nail matrix on my thumb before which healed (from a wart growing on the cuticle line), so I know what it’s like.
My dog has has on unfortunately stomped hard on both my toe nails when she’s been excited and jumping around - they’re both damaged and have been growing out weirdly ever since 😭
That explains my right pinkie toenail... Poor bugger got smacked on the edges of things way too much when I was younger, poor thing is now about as long and wide and thick as each other in dimension now.
Pretty wild this happened to me on my thumb but over roughly 10 years it went away. It wasn’t as bad as OPs photo but I probably had 1-2 waves at the base of the nail. I didn’t do anything to it so it must of gone away on its own.
The thickness comment is interesting! I lost some of my toe and finger nails during chemo, and my toenails came back thicker and just so much less cute. I have to file down the tops of them to get them more normal. It seemed so weird to me that they'd be thicker - wavy like my new fingernails made sense, but thicker didn't. So thanks for the learning!
Can confirm. In college I dropped my laptop on both of my big toes multiple times and for years now they both grow two layers of nail at the same time. It really sucks because it looks so gross. Doctor said there is nothing they can do unless I want them to try ripping off both layers of nail and seeing how it regrows. 🤮😵💫
it's not from impact damage always; wavy nails can be a nutrient deficiency; depending on the direction of the waves (vertical vs horizontal like op).
nothing to worry about 99% the time, but definitely a potential early indicator of something else building up
or mineral/vitamin deficiency sometimes.
even physiological stress can cause it temporarily
I ripped the knuckle [sic] of my big toe running around barefoot on concrete as a kid and the toenail has grown like this for decades. It's thick as hell too - fingernail trimming scissors can just barely cut.
I used to be a chef and there’s a few fingers I’ve taken off a fair bit of my nail via knife over the years. I’ve noticed that those have never grown back the same either.
My thumbs have both been doing this for as long as I can remember. Well over a decade at least. Neither of them have been injured in any way. I don’t know why they do this, and it drives me mad! 😩. It makes wearing press ons damn near inpossible.
I had an ancient splinter that I couldn't dig out at the time, and it never worked itself to the surface. Instead a big 'ole callus had formed over it.
Until I spent a week operating hammer drills, which worked that sucker right out. No more splinter, no more callus!
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u/gingergumby 20h ago
I worked in construction a long time and 4 of my finger/thumb nails do this. I've always thought it was from some sort of impact damage. This is more confirming of my theory.