Hi everyone,
How long does it take for our finger and toe nails to return to health after chemotherapy?
I’ve lost all my fingernails (toes going the same way) and noticed that the regrowth looks almost as unhealthy as the ones that fell off in the first place.
I’m really disappointed about this as I was looking forward to having some reasonable nails again - my hands look really yucky at the moment. I’m sure it’s not a diet thing as I’m eating very healthily in a desperate bid to get back the stone I lost whilst in intensive care (I’m currently under 7st!). I finished chemo in April and rads at the end of May. I know I was very seriously ill and maybe that has some bearing on it but it just seems to be taking such a long time for things to recover and I wondered if this was normal?
Nymeria
Hi Nymeria
My GP told me -when I was muttering about how grotty my nails were- that it would take at least six months, possibly more, for my nails to re-grow. I found mine continued deteriorating for about three or four weeks after my chemo finished. I think my nails bother me more than my hair.
There is somebody on the threads who is -I think- a podiatrist. Was it Pollypocket? Maybe she will have more info.
Mine really look very yucky at the moment and I’m not at all impressed that where there is new growth it doesn’t look exactly healthy. Not much I can do except wait and see I guess. . .
Fame at last!
My nails are still a bit ropey too. Lost all 10 fingernails and 8 toenails with remaining two about to come off.
It takes about 6 months or so for fingernails to grow back and 12-18 months for the big toenails. Some of my nails came off completely and the new nail growing through seems fairly healthy although slightly thicker. As these grow through to the tip they should be a bit more normal. Other nails were separated from the nail bed but didn’t fall off immediately. This allowed a new nail to start growing beneath but I’ve noticed that these ones have lots of horizontal lines almost as if they corresponded to each chemo session. These areas are gradually peeling away and the new nail seems smooth. Give it time and hopefully they will be ok. Maybe try massaging nail oil or vitamin E into the nail and cuticle.
Anyone still have numb fingers and toes. Not an ideal situation for a podiatrist.
Best wishes
Polly xx
P.s. I’m thinking of getting gel nails on toenails as they look really ugly. Don’t want it on fingernails though as it weakens them.
Hello to the Famous Polly Pocket!
Yes I’ve got the ring barked nails too- it does seem as though they correspond to the sessions of chemo.
I have what my Onc described as “low grade peripheral neuropathy” both fingers and toes. Fingertips and toes slightly numb and tingly.
My feet feel as if I’m walking on something all the time and as if the soles are very thick.
I finished chemo on April 30th so two and a half months on still feeling the effects. Onc told me it probably will resolve but may take a couple of years to do so. The words “probably” and “may” are the two I took most note of in her sentence.
Just going with the flow because there’s not alot else I can do but I do miss my fingernails- very useful tools which I didn’t fully appreciate when I had them.
Hi
the finger nails that I didn’t loose with chemo turned a horrible black.
That was over 2 years ago and now my finger nails are better than they have ever been(and I am a lady of senior years!) when chemo was over and my hair started growing back I decided to make my nails as good as I could.
I painted them regularly with OPI nail envy and massaged them with cuticle oil. Because of joint problems I also take cod liver oil capsules. Now if I take the time to manicure them properly they only need repainting every 2 weeks. My toenails are a different story- one big toenail just will not regrow properly and I have to visit a chiropodist to keep it under control.
Also the numbness in fingers and toes has finally gone.
Chemo does seem to affect our bodies for a lot longer than we realise.
Good luck
Andie
Hi,
I lost all my toenails but none of my fingernails. I did not use dark polish. My fingernails were marked with each Tax, of which I had 6. I kept them short and used nail oil several times a day. It was such a joy to cut off another layer of Tax. My fingernails grew back to normal in about 4 months. My little toenails grew very quickly, about 6 months. One of my big toenails grew back in 12 months but the other was being silly and kept stopping and starting. I had 3 layers of nail piggybacking. Then I realised that wearing shoes too much was putting pressure on the toenail and damaging the nail bed. Now I am wearing peep toe sandals in the house and at last the nail is growing.
I am sure that the nail oil helped.
E
ragamuffin you are right, you don’t appreciate how useful nails are until you don’t have any! 
Polly Pocket - mine also have ridges that probably reflect chemo sessions. I’m just waiting now to see if the new ones also fall off but hoping that they don’t. I’m treating them regularly with a good quality nail oil.
I had peripheral neuropathy in some of my toes before I started chemo due to another illness and chemo has made it worse. I’m hoping that it will eventually go back to how it was before as that was at least bearable.
You just don’t think about the longer term effects of chemo do you? Part of me wishes that I’d been warned about how long it takes to get over it but part of me also thinks that in some instances ignorance can most definitely be bliss!
Nymeria x
Thanks for the encouraging posts AndieT and Emmbee.
My fingers feel like they are in hot water. Nails quite red sinse last tax, and the ridges remind me of sucking the chocolate of a crunchy bar.
Thanks elttiks- now I want a crunchie bar - have no chocolate in the house -trying to wean myself off it. Sorry Nymeria - very much off topic of nail health.
Fancy a fishfinger sandwich? Just put 5 in the oven…
Yum. Fish fingers.
Andie did it take 2 years for finger neuropathy to go.
Polly x
LOL - fish fingers, that takes me back!
Now I want a chocolate bar though!
Hi pollypocket
No the neuropathy didn’t take 2 years to completely go. To be honest it went very gradually until I realised that it had gone. When I am tired and have been on my feet all day I do still occasionally get it in my feet, but it goes very quickly.
Andie
I am so pleased to hear that the numbness will go. I can’t wear shoes only sandals as my toes become painful. I can’t even stand the bed clothes on them. I massage them throughout the day in hope that this will revive the nerves. Now 6 months of chemo has finished and mastectomy is done everyone expects me to be recovering. My joints are weak, I sweat for England, nails look like crap, hair is slow to grow and no sign of my eyebrows or lashes. My mind still can’t focus and concentrate for long. And I get the comments, ‘you can’t blame the chemo now’. well what do I blame? or ‘you can’t tell it’s not real.’ No but I can when I get undressed or buy new clothes.
so sorry to sound moany but I’ve had enough. My life’s lost direction, I know what I want to do, grab it by the b____ and live it but I’m too knackered!
xxx
Mandy
I can remember very well being in exactly the same place that you are now. Chemo stays in our bodies for a long while, and surgery is a major trauma in itself. I got so fed up with people assuming that it was all over.
You shout and moan on here all you need. We all know how hard it is. You will feel better but that’s no help now
Take care
Andie
thank you Andie, it’s so good to know there are people who know how I feel and I know there are plenty more who have it worse. But again thanks for listening.
xx