Copyright (c) 2010 Tina Boucher

Since I have started dancing, my toenails have taken a beating. I used to take pride in painting my nails a fiery red, or a bright pink just because I wanted to, but covering up my gross nails became a necessity, not a pleasure.

Ask yourself a couple of questions regarding your toenails:

1. Have your toenails become thicker, and harder to cut since you began dancing?

2. Do you have spots in your toenails, bruised or not, that result from an injury?

3. Have your toenails been stepped on or did your partner drop you on your pointe too aggressively?

Some of you may have any or all of these problems and they are problems that may last your entire dancing career if you do not take the time to have them treated.

First, you need to take care that you are cutting your nails properly. A proper toenail cut will be cut straight across on the edges and then close to the quick in the middle. Dancers who do not follow these instructions will find themselves suffering from painful, infected ingrown toenails, which require surgery to repair.

If you find that your nails have become increasingly difficult to cut because they are hard or brittle, you probably have toenail fungus. Take a look at your toenails. Do they appear yellowed, or have white striped running across them? You probably have toenail fungus, which is a common ailment for dancers, as they face nail injury on a daily basis. This is something that is treatable and you do not have to take a pill to rid yourself of painful, ugly fungal toenails. What works best for our patients is an oil-soluble product called Formula 3, which goes beneath the nail plate and hits the fungus at the root.

Bruised toenails are painful and difficult to put into pointe shoes. Everytime you go on pointe with a bruised toenail you feel like you are poking a needle into your nail. As soon as you notice that your toenail is bruised, you should make an appointment with a podiatrist to relieve some of the pressure behind the nail. What he or she may end up doing is drilling into the affected area so some blood may flow from it. Dancers with ingrown toenails should also see a podiatrist immediately so the infection does not spread to other parts of the toe. Depending on the severity of the ingrown, your podiatrist will surgically remove the portions that are infectioned and ingrown This may require you to be off your feet for a short while, but you will not be suffering from ingrowns or the infection.

Remember that the best thing you can do to prevent major toenail injuries from dancing is to cut your toenails properly and to be careful! Talk with your partner if he continues to drop you on your pointes too hard, or speak with another ballerina with consistently steps on your feet in a sequence. Never do bathroom surgeries at home as this will make the problem worse and you will have to spend more time away from your passion: dancing!