Fingernail Splitting

[nicolewi]

My right thumb nail repeatedly splits vertically, right down the middle. It starts at the top, and will work its way down, even partway into the pink part of my fingernail. I must’ve damaged the nail bed at some point. I can’t stop it from doing this, but is there anything I can do to stop it in its tracks and keep it from getting far down my nail?

It is very annoying, and half of my nail will get caught on things. A dot of superglue? Nail polish?? Something I could put on it to kind of fill the crack and make it feel smooth?

I thought someone else might have dealt with this and might have some ideas.

[Deleted]

We specifically keep super glue in our travel first aid kit for this situation. It works well in my experience. Super glue is also great for annoying deep cracks on fingertips that happen in the winter. Or basically any cut on the hand that is hard to bandage. Liquid bandage is just super glue, but super glue can be easier to find.

[VillainV]

I have the same problem with my ring finger on my left hand. It’s been like this for about 4 years, since right after I had a gel manicure that did tons of damage to all of my nails. The rest have mostly recovered. The only thing that I’ve found that works is keeping that nail clipped really short so it doesn’t get caught on anything.

[expectantsteelerfan]

This happens to my thumb nail frequently too, and like VillainV said, the only thing that really works is cutting it down super short, like to the point where it's painful, and then continuing to cut it as soon as it grows the slightest bit, and eventually you will cut below where the crack is and it should grow out ok. But similarly, sometimes even when it's as short as I can possibly get it, it snags on something and deepens the crack, so you just have to keep going. I would try super glue or nail glue next time after seeing someone else post about nail glue when it happened to their kid, I don't know why I never thought of that (other than that I don't do my nails so I forgot it existed).