A Case of Retronychia on Toenail

Purpose: Retronychia is the embedding of the nail into proximal nail fold. Retronychia starts with disruption of the longitudinal growth of the nail. With the growth of a new nail, the old one is pushed upwards and backwards. This leads to embedding of the top nail into the ventral aspect of the proximal nail fold and results with chronic paronychia. We present a case of retronychia that was rarely reported in the literature. Methods: A 46-year old female presented with a 3-month history of painful right first, 2nd, 3rd toenail changes. Although she was initially treated with broad spectrum antibiotics, she did not response to therapy. Later, she presented to our department because of progressively worsening pain that impaired her walking. Physical examination revealed with proximal nail fold erythema, painful swelling, yellowish nail discoloration, and distal onycholysis. Bacterial and fungus culture showed no organism. Treatment was surgical nail avulsion under local anesthesia. Results: The postoperative course was uneventful. 10 months later, the patient had a normal growing nail and was free of symptoms. Conclusion: We report a case of retronychia on toenail. Retronychia is a proximal nail plate ingrowth into the proximal nail fold which is associated with multiple generations of nail plate misaligned beneath the proximal nail. Management consisted of simple avulsion of superimposed nail. Retronychia is suspected with a persistent paronychia, particularly in the setting of trauma. Avulsion of the top nail confirms the diagnosis and may be curative if the underlying nail appears healthy.

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