[cofe]

think i might have the above, down the outside of index nail. white of the nail now joins quite near the base meaning the side, and what's left of the cuticle, are prone to splitting/cracking and pissing blood/hurting like fuck, usually when crimping indoors.

anyone had anything similar? any advice?

[a dense loner]

for an ingrowing fingernail cut a little 'v' into the middle of the nail word

[cofe]

does it sound like ingrowing then word?

[GCW]

Do you mean that your cuticle splits where you put your thumb when crimping?  If so it's not an ingrowing nail, which would affect the side of the nail more.

[cofe]

nah. it's right down the side. not really any cuticle left. nail tears away from flesh when crimping, particularly when dry, i.e. when v. chalky indoors.

[slackline]

Get your iFern out and snap a picture of the offending nail.

Vaguely remember ScouseD saying he had troubles with splitting/bleeding fingers a while back.

[cofe]

Get your iFern out and snap a picture of the offending nail.

Vaguely remember ScouseD saying he had troubles with splitting/bleeding fingers a while back.

Bit log, but:

http://twitpic.com/127hks 

white of nail comes all way down the side.

Won't be taking scouse's advice (do a 6 hour wall session, 8 days a week, in trainers) 

[magpie]

I am a qualified nail technician, you may now all mock me while I go and sort a proxy out to look at the picture before I come back and give you professional opinion. 

Edit:  I am back, it is not an ingrown finger nail.  It's hard to tell from the photo but I reckon it'll be to do with the state of your cuticles and the fact that your skin is so dry around the nail edge.  I reckon the best thing for it is to take really good care of the skin and cuticles and then they should hopefully grow back over a bit.  Shall I recommended you a treatment plan? 

[Jim]

I do what scouse does and I'm not injured at all!   

[magpie]

Also, that thing about cutting a V in your nail to pull the edges back in and stop it ingrowing doesn't really work, not if you have a proper ingrown one, and it will catch on everything and generally ends with you ripping a whole side of the nail off.

[cofe]

i do moisturise it a bunch anyway. go on, give me a treatment plan you qualified nail technician you.

[Johnny Brown]

Word, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks a bit like the start of nail fungus. Is that the nail you scratch your feet with?

My thumbnail was like that for years before it suddenly got aggressive. I maybe wrong, but the dry, cracking skin looks familiar.

I'd try alternating vicks vaporub with heavy moisturiser (the vicks kills the fungus but dries it out even more).

[cofe]

sweet. i don't want to end up like johnny 'the leper' brown.

[slackline]

No homeopathic remedy? 

[cofe]

i have no problem with gays and lesbians, i just don't see how they'll help with this?

[magpie]

Use this stuff: Lotil, it really is excellent and it's not too greasy and won't leave you with a sticky residue on your hands.  You should be applying it several times a day, and making sure you rub it in really well, especially around the cuticles.  If you can stick a wee drop on every time you wash your hands you'll notice a difference.  Make sure you wash your hands clean of chalk as soon as possible after you climb, and slap more cream on.

Depending on how camp you like looking a really good thing for your hands is to get some cotton gloves to wear overnight a couple of times a week, slather loads of cream on, or even better, some cuticle oil - you'll get it in any chemist, Solar Oil or OPI are good, but a lot of the own brand ones will do the job too - then put the gloves on and go to bed.  The heat will help the cream/oil to sink in and the gloves will stop it rubbing off right away on the sheets, you will look silly though.

Another thing is do not file down the nails too far, I am assuming from the picture that you file your nails, which is good, but don't file them down a lot, so, for example, in your case, don't file right down the side, filing encourages the nail to lift away from the skin more.  Also, are you picking your cuticles when they get dry and start to peel?  Don't, it'll make it worse.  If you are getting lots of loose ends which are catching or painful or just annoying use some cuticle nippers to snip the straggly end off rather than just pulling it, if you don't want to buy them use normal nail clippers to catch the edge and chop it off.

That's about all I can think of for now, it's hard to be more specific without actually seeing your nails in person.  Johnny may have a point, it could be something fungal, although it doesn't look quite cracked and sore enough to me, again, can't say for sure without seeing it up close, I would have thought it would be more sore and red if it was an infection of sorts though.  I would have a go with intensive moisturising, careful filing and no picking and see how you get on, if it doesn't help at all then it might be fungal and need treating. 

Tea tree oil will be good for anti germy fungal stuff too, if you want to stick some of that on, just be careful, it will hurt like hell if the skin is broken and technically you're not meant to use it neat, although I do.

[magpie]

Another thing (sorry I am boring myself here, I'll stop in a minute) you might want to try is packing some Climb On into the edge of the nail, almost as if you were trying to get it in between the gap of the nail and the cuticle, then covering it with a dry plaster or the gloves, it's pretty good at healing up cuts and sore bits and has lots of good antiseptic type things in which won't do you any harm.  Just make sure you then do the moisturising a lot as I find that after it heals up the sore bit it can leave your skin with a tendency to peel a bit.

[Plattsy]

Magpie beat me to it. I was just about to say that.   

[magpie]

I bet you'd have managed to be a touch more concise about it too. 

[Johnny Brown]

it could be something fungal, although it doesn't look quite cracked and sore enough to me

Mine aren't cracked or sore, and my fingertips are more fungus than man.

Tea tree oil will be good for anti germy fungal stuff too

I've not found it to be very effective, not as good as Vicks, though I have tried a mix. I think its the camphor (in Vicks) that is most effective.

get some cotton gloves to wear overnight a couple of times a week

I should try this...

[magpie]

How wrong is it that I have a strong urge to see your fungus finger? 

The gloves work really well, you should try it, the heat helps everything to really soak in and your hands get properly saturated without it rubbing off which is good.

To be honest, I don't find Tea Tree strong enough to kill off real infections most of the time, but thought it was worth mentioning, I am curious about the Vicks, it's not something I have heard of or tried, I can see how it could be good though.

[SA Chris]

I bet you'd have managed to be a touch more concise about it too. 

I can be concise - MTFU Cofe.