What causes pain in the big toe?

There are many common causes of big toe pain, including ill-fitting shoes, fungal infections, malnutrition, and even some heart diseases. It is easiest to tell if a pair of shoes does not fit. As for pain caused by other diseases, it is difficult to make an accurate judgment based solely on the pain. The cause needs to be determined in combination with other characteristics. So, what causes pain in the big toe? Let’s take a look below.

Corns; This is the most common; It manifests as thickened, hardened and yellowed skin, like a chicken's eye, hence the name, and it hurts when walking or pressing; It usually grows on the outside or inside of the big toe; Most of the corns that grow on the inside will spread to the second toe and exist symmetrically; Most of them are related to excessive exercise or overcrowding of shoes; This type of corn patch is generally not effective, and freezing can be used;

Plantar warts; This is a viral infectious disease, similar to corns, but there are many black spots on the surface of the lesions, which is the most obvious difference between them and corns in terms of symptoms; especially if there are more of them, plantar warts should be considered. Because of the local proliferation, there will be obvious pain when walking; corn patches are not allowed to be used for the treatment of this disease, but you can go to the local hospital dermatology department for cryotherapy;

Paronychia: It manifests as local redness, swelling and pain, and in severe cases, pus will flow locally. This is mostly due to excessive nail trimming. Toenails or fingernails grow from under the skin at the root of the nail, and the growth rate of the middle and the sides is different. If the two sides are trimmed excessively, the toenails that originally grew forward will grow to the sides, which can easily irritate the skin and form paronychia. For this type of condition, you can go to the clinic to get some oral antibiotics and trim the nails appropriately.

Onychomycosis: This type of condition is more common when half of the nail is infected with fungus. As we all know, ordinary fingernails or toenails grow close to the nail bed below. If only half of the toenail is infected with fungus, it will passively push up after thickening, causing local pain. Frequent wearing of tight shoes will aggravate this condition. Most elderly people who suffer from onychomycosis will also experience toenail pain.

Gout; when it first attacks, there is often sudden and acute pain in a single joint, often in the big toe joint, but the surface skin is mostly normal; subsequent attacks may involve multiple joints, such as ankle joints, knee joints, etc.; if the attack occurs after eating seafood and drinking alcohol, this should be considered first;

Traumatic foreign body: This type is rare, usually caused by being stabbed when wearing sandals in the summer. If the foreign body is removed, it will heal quickly. If it exists, it will either form something like paronychia or something like corns. It can be treated by freezing or laser.

If you can't tell what the cause is, you can go to the hospital for a check-up; it is generally believed that if it is a skin disease, there will be relatively hard bumps locally;