Black spot under big toenails

by Becky
(Temecula, CA)

I have a black spot under my toenail that I noticed about 3 months ago after removing nail polish that I had for probably about 4 months. It started out like a perfect round circle and it does seem to be growing with my nail. It now looks like the black circle is almost seperating and looks move ovalish and spotted. I noticed my left big toe now has a light purple circle. I saw my General Dr. today and she gave me a referral to a Dermatologist and said it could be melanoma...I'm kind of freaking out and would like to get feedback prior to my Derm Appt. since I likely won't be able to get in for 1-2 weeks.

Hi Becky,
Because the growth is not growing forward there is always the concern about the possibility of melanoma, so the nail has to be checked out. But more often than not the discoloration can also be due to an irritation on the nail bed under the nail.
So do the right thing and keep your appointment with the dermatologist but if you do not want to wait up to 2 weeks, see if you can get an earlier appointment with another dermatologist or a podiatrist.
Marc Mitnick DPM