Ouch.

Several months ago I managed to mash my left-hand ring fingernail in a sliding glass door. The nail turned black with a clot of blood, but nothing much worse than that. Since then the nail has been growing out, as nails are wont to do, and last night at work I noticed that the blackened part of the nail had separated from the new nail growth. Later, while removing a small object from my shoe, the nail caught and dragged up, although luckily I didn't tear it off.

I used nail clippers to trim the damaged portion, exposing the healthy flesh underneath. I cleaned the remnants of old clotted black blood, and inspected what I was left with: new nail growth coming up from the quick, and 25% of the old nail still attached to the flesh, with 75% of the remaining area without a nail at all, but promise of a healthy complete nail in a month or two. I have the nail covered with a bandaid; guess I'll have to get used to wearing one for a while.