How to treat broken toe nail oozing green discharge?
Patient: I badly broke the toenail on the same leg as my 7 week old hip pinning. No red streaks, or other discoloration, no pain or swelling, but some light green discharge. After soaking in epsom salt it was soft enough to cut most of the nail away. I ve since been soaking daily with epsom salt, drying with paper towels and covering with a clean white cotton sock & usually a fabric bandaid. I was already on Amocycillin for a respiritory problem. It s been 8 days and it s very lightly still draining thin watery green puss. Is there anything else I can or should not be doing? I m worried about the new hip hardware getting contaminated. I m a 32 year hemodialysis patient, also with a 25 y/o aortic prosthesis(Saint Jude valve). Doctor: Hello,This type of discharge from your toenail is indicative of an infection. You are doing the correct thing in keeping the nail clean and soaking it. However, you need more serious antibiotics than Amoxicillin to treat this infection. Since you already have a prosthetic valve and are on dialysis it is much more important for you to eliminate infections than the average person. There could be a much deeper infection than you can see grossly with your own eyes. You need to have your toe evaluated by a doctor. He will most likely put you on a much stronger antibiotic than Amoxicillin to treat this infection.Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.Regards,      Dr. Alexander Underwood