onychoptosis

. . . otherwise known as nail falling off

i think it is not uncommon for runners/joggers to have toenails fall off but until today i did not confirm that assumption with dr google.

google tells me the constant pressure on toes while running can cause injury to the toenail. large toenails hit the shoe repeatedly and bruise the toenail. when the injury damages the underlying nail bed and causes the toenail to fall off, it is known as subungal hematoma. (hematoma, of course, is  collection of blood outside the blood vessels)anyway, because of the injury, the toenail gets detached from the nail bed and it becomes painful. later the color of the toenail changes to black or bluish black and eventually it falls off.

i could insert a picture here but i believe that is not necessary and would not be appreciated.

why do we have toenails and fingernails anyway? why isn't it just skin?