Do I need to go to the doctor for a broken little toe?

I broke the 2nd smallest toe on my left foot last night. Man, that hurt... and still does. In any case, it started swelling up immediately, and all day today it has been turning a bluish/purplish hue (the entire toe). I can walk on it, with some pain... but that's about it.

My Dh is bugging me to go to the Dr., but I don't see why... all the Dr is going to do is tell me to take some ibuprofen to reduce the swelling and tell me to stay off of it, right?

Anyway, should I go? And my toe isn't going to fall off just because it is all purple, right?

I broke my third toe once ....talk about excruciating pain! You have my complete and utter sympathy.

Unfortunately there isn't much they can do for broken toes. What you're doing is pretty much what the doctor told me to do -- take ibuprofin for the pain, stay off it, and use ice to keep the swelling down.

If it were me, I'd go to the doctor only if the toe got worse. But that's just me. Hopefully some of the medical personnell here will see this post and advise better than I can.

Here's hoping it heals swiftly!
--Donna

I went to the ER when I broke my toe and they couldn't do anything for it. I self-medicated with margaritas...that was a looooooong time ago :-)

Sending lots of sympathy to you...it's incredible how much a tiny little toe can hurt!

Owwwwww. I've broken several toes, and there's nothing the doctor can do about it. If it's crooked or something, definitely go to the doctor--they can straighten it and tape it up. Otherwise, you can tape it yourself if it makes the toe feel better. Ice, ibuprofen, and margaritas sound like a good plan to me! :)

Anna

If you are pretty certain it is the upper part of the toes then your fine skipping the doctor. One tip is to use a bit of gauze between the broken toe and on next to it if you are going to tape it; it takes up some of the gap between the toes and feels a bit better.

One reason however to go to the doctor is to make sure it is only the toe that was broken. There are a bunch of little bones in there. I think I sound a bit paranoid but one of my friends broke a bone in his foot and didn't realize it. He ended up having surgery ages later to fix it. Big mess. So depending on how you broke it, it is something to think about.

I work for an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in shoulders/knees but occasionally we see a foot injury if he is on ER call. He always orders an xray to see if it is a simple break or if there might be complications. If it is simple, he "buddy tapes" the toe to it's bigger neighbor toe, gauze/cotton in between. Ice and elevate the foot to reduce swelling. Be careful what shoes you wear, no pinching toes... duh! If the bone has fragmented, he refers the patient to an orthopedic foot specialist- the fragment might cause some real problems, but I don't know what happens next because that is out of our office. I think a quick call to your primary care provider will let you know what he/she thinks best.

Hey! I have the same broken toe at this moment! Except it's on my right foot. I'm an idiot, it never crossed my mind to go to the doctor. Glad to hear everyone confirm there's not much a doctor can do for it. I hope your toe is better soon!

Sorry to hear that Jenn. I felt like a huge idiot when I broke mine... since I uh, walked into a door jam foot first. Ouch. But i didn't swear... Sara was right next to me, and I am trying so hard to make sure she doesn't inherit my trucker mouth! LOL!

Anyway, thanks for the tips ladies

I broke the little toe on my right foot in July and it hurt for about a month and is still a little swollen, although I can now wear my regular slip on sandals. My FIL who is a retired doc taped the broken toe to its neighbor and said there was not much else to do. I found that hurt even more, so I untaped it and hopped around until it started to feel better.

Hope you feel better --

Paula -- mom to Roley Julia, January '02

Ryden dropped Alex's Mancala (spelling) game on my toe. Marbles and a wooden box all inside a metal box. It hurt like hell and thankfully I was in so much pain I was speechless ;) Ryden of course thought it was funny. Stinker.

I think you've gotten really good advise. I probably wouldn't go to a Dr. myself but I would definitely try to brace or straighten the toe somehow if you think it might heal crooked. I once taped two broken fingers together using a box cutter as a brace and they healed perfectly. However prior to that experience I broke a toe (the second to the big toe). I didn't realize it was actually broken at the time and now I have a permanently crooked toe. I've actually considered seeing a podiatrist to see if they could re-break and straighten it but I'm not sure if it would be worth the aggravation. I definitely hate my crooked toe. Yuck.