The Toe Bro - General Discussion

[Guest]

Premieres on A&E on March 5th:

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"The Toe Bro" follows foot specialist Jonathan Tomines who treats a range of shocking foot problems for patients who come from far and wide seeking his help. There is nothing "The Toe Bro" won't clip, slice, or scoop until suffering is a thing of the past. These oddly satisfying and cringe-worthy procedures, combined with Jonathan's bed-side manner, leave patients with newfound confidence.

He, um, seems a little douche-y.

[Guest]

On 2/6/2019 at 9:33 PM, Giant Misfit said:

He, um, seems a little douche-y.

Quoting myself because, after watching the show last night, decided he actually seems like a nice fellow.

That being said, UGHHHHHH. That was tough to watch. And how do you not know you have a pointy skewer stuck in your foot for months?!

[Galloway Cave]

4 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

decided he actually seems like a nice fellow.

I have his videos in rotation with Dr. Lee (yeah, I KNOW). He really is a sweet guy, very caring towards his patients. He is a lot like Dr. Lee in how he goes about his work (apparently Sandra has been very supportive of his YouTube efforts). 

That said, I have NO idea why I watch his videos. I'm weird about feet and some of those claw nails are horrific. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Galloway Cave said:

some of those claw nails are horrific.

I thought the claw nails last night were actually the least gross thing I saw. (And even they were horrific!) When he was cutting out the dancer's ingrown toenail, for a moment I thought I was going to heave. 

[Galloway Cave]

2 minutes ago, Giant Misfit said:

I thought the claw nails last night were actually the least gross thing I saw.

They were! I was referring to ones in his YT videos. The yucky, fungus claws (HEEEAVE).

The one thing I have always wondered about is how painful the toes are after the numbing wears off. Nails have been ripped out, holes dug under corns, etc. The guy who had a pound of flesh (zing) removed from that one toe had to be in pain. But damn if it didn't look half-way decent when it healed. 

[sempervivum]

I liked the doc, too- he has to be able to relax and calm the patients (or distract them), and he was good at it.

I'm amazed that most of these people were able to WATCH while Jonathan hacked away, although the fact that the toe is tourniqueted/not bleeding helps. It was kind of funny that the last guy couldn't even watch while the anesthetic was injected, but seemed OK with seeing half his toe carved off. 

[Eliza422]

I was simultaneously horrified and fascinated by this show.

I don't understand for that last guy with the really big infected toes how another doctor saw that and went "meh". I mean, come on! Even if they weren't as bad as on this show, a constant running infection is nothing to ignore.

I am lucky I've never had a problem with ingrown toenails. I always thought those were when a little corner at the top grew in, not the entire nail.

I'm ashamed I put this on series record - I'm repulsed but hooked.

[Horrified]

I was watching with eyes averted!  I guess that means I was "listening" as opposed to watching. 

I have an unsightly toenail and for vanity's sake, I would like to have it removed so that it can have a do-over. I'm fascinated with this show to get an idea of what I might be in for but good lord, I don't think I can be brave just for cosmetic reasons. 

8 hours ago, Galloway Cave said:

The one thing I have always wondered about is how painful the toes are after the numbing wears off 

Me too!!

[Galloway Cave]

1 hour ago, Horrified said:

I have an unsightly toenail and for vanity's sake, I would like to have it removed so that it can have a do-over.

According to Jonathan's YT videos, once a toenail is messed up (fungus, thick or wonky-looking), that is how it will grow forever. Even if the nail is removed, it will grow back the same way. That said, I know if I had a bad toenail, I would at least try removing it to see how it grows back. Why not?

[JJ1]

On 3/6/2019 at 10:37 AM, Galloway Cave said:

The one thing I have always wondered about is how painful the toes are after the numbing wears off. Nails have been ripped out, holes dug under corns, etc. The guy who had a pound of flesh (zing) removed from that one toe had to be in pain. But damn if it didn't look half-way decent when it healed. 

Don’t know about any of the other treatments, but my sister had to have a toenail removed a few years ago. Toe was injured and it got a bad fungus. Anyway, doc said most effective treatment would be to remove the nail, clean and disinfect the nail bed and just let it grow back. She said it didn’t hurt when he removed the nail (and trust me, she’s a pain wimp! 😁). It took forever to grow back but it wasn’t painful during that period. Today, it looks perfectly normal.

[sara1025]

On 3/7/2019 at 12:27 PM, JJ1 said:

Don’t know about any of the other treatments, but my sister had to have a toenail removed a few years ago. Toe was injured and it got a bad fungus. Anyway, doc said most effective treatment would be to remove the nail, clean and disinfect the nail bed and just let it grow back. She said it didn’t hurt when he removed the nail (and trust me, she’s a pain wimp! 😁). It took forever to grow back but it wasn’t painful during that period. Today, it looks perfectly normal.

Speaking from experience (and I hate to even admit this and hope no one I know is reading this!), when a toenail fungus is bad enough it causes the nail to completely separate from the nail bed. I had no idea my big toenail was so infected with fungus til I removed the nail polish and noticed most of the nail wasn't even intact so I ended up removing it for the most part, pain free because it wasn't intact with the nail bed. My sister, however, had an ingrown toenail removed and said it was one of the most painful procedures she has ever had to endure (and after watching Toebro, I can see why with all the skin that has to be removed, etc). So after all the rambling I guess my point is that the pain level I'm sure has to do with if the nail is still connected to the nail bed and if any skin has to be removed. And to empathize with your sister, toenail fungus is one of the most annoying things to deal with and takes so long to get rid of (having to wait for the nail to grow out).

[Dakisela]

On ‎3‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 1:18 PM, Eliza422 said:

I was simultaneously horrified and fascinated by this show.

I am fascinated with all things Dr. PP and thought I'd give this one a go too.  Can't do it.  I think the difference for me is that while both are grossly awesome, those procedures on the feet just LOOK so painful and awful, before, during and, especially in my dreams, after. 

[Galloway Cave]

One thing I like about the format of the show is Jonathan also gives out useful tips about feet. And gets in a variety of patients without the 15 minute run-up of staged story for a lot of them.

All I could think when looking at the 'dancer's" feet was that she kept all her toenails too long for an en point dancer (she was shown putting on toe shoes at the beginning). As a river guide, I was constantly banging my toes and loosing toenails if I wore closed shoes, so I always wore Chaco Flips (even hiking around the Grand Canyon) and kept my nails very short. Still do!

[SunnyBeBe]

I caught this show for the first time last night.  I think they ran two episodes. It has to be the most BIZARRE thing on tv.  I mean, it's very intense, imo.  But, it's informative and I really learned some things. When your feet hurt, your entire body is miserable. 

I think one thing that got me interested is that a couple of years ago, I had an infection in one of my fingers that required THREE surgeries. (It was fluke that a cuticle just got infected and went haywire. Antibiotic resistant.)   The first ER doctor put a hole through my finger and left a drain in....OMG.....another one was when the hand surgeon took half my nail off!  Yeah, I had an infection in it, but, the mutilation from the surgeries was pure torture when the numbing wore off. My pain LAUGHED at the the pain pills.  I get emotional even thinking about how I suffered with pain for a LONG time. Have you ever felt like you were living in a third world country, due to the misery from your health crisis?   So, I hope those patients didn't have it that bad.  

So, what kind of doctor is Toe Bro?  Are podiatrist real doctors? I went to one once and he gave me a cortisone shot in my arch for plantar fasciitis. 

So, can Toe Bro write prescriptions for antibiotics, pain pills, etc.? 

[sara1025]

Ended up having to fast forward through the dancer bit, I understand people's fear of needles but the screaming was so over the top.

[Guest]

I really like ToeBro and, like others, find him really informative, but I find myself actually watching this show through my fingers because it just freaks me out what he's doing. 

45 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

So, what kind of doctor is Toe Bro?  Are podiatrist real doctors? I went to one once and he gave me a cortisone shot in my arch for plantar fasciitis

He is a "chiropodist" (pronounced kir-OP-o-dist) which he explains what that is in this YT video (starting at around 15:20). He can do everything a podiatrist can do except anything involving bone surgery. There's some weird convoluted stuff about the laws in Ontario Canada about the podiatrist vs chiropodist" stuff that I didn't quite understand though.  

[SunnyBeBe]

Oh, interesting.....So, he can prescribe antibiotics for patients, but, he didn't mention pain meds. I would think some of those people who have substantial soft tissue procedure would need it.  I know I did.  OMG....it didn't help much, but, at least it was something. 

Edited March 13, 2019 by SunnyBeBe

[ItsHelloPattiagain]

On 3/6/2019 at 6:55 AM, Giant Misfit said:

. And how do you not know you have a pointy skewer stuck in your foot for months?!

My dad got a huge thorn stuck in one of his knuckles when clearing brush. He didn't realize it until about two weeks later when, his knuckle swelled up. Being an old Army soldier, he poured alcohol over his finger and poked around with a pocket knife (!) where there was a tiny scratch. Out came a bunch of pus and then lo and behold, a huge thorn popped out of the joint (like about five times the size of a big rose thorn). 

I was also fascinated and repulsed by the Toe Bro.  One of my children was born with an ingrown toenail (she was breech and apparently was sucking on her toes in utero, so they told me). She's always having issues and getting it picked out. Too bad she would never go for a Toe Bro toenail makeover. 

I'm guessing the Toe Bro must be really good at numbing those patients up because they don't seem to be bothered in the least while he's digging around in their toes. 

[bilgistic]

In August, I had a podiatrist excise a fairly mild but angry ingrown toenail from the left side of my left big toe. I'd watched the Toe Bro's videos and knew what to expect, and the procedure was very similar to what the Toe Bro performs. The numbing injections do hurt A LOT, but then I felt nothing at all. It's gross and fascinating to watch the rest of the procedure.

I have something going on with the right side of my right big toe, but the podiatrist didn't think it was an ingrown toenail. My nails grow in a little curved under, but nothing at all like the people on the show. I don't wear heels or restrictive shoes, so it's just my problematic feet, which have incredibly dry and cracked heels at times, like the other woman's.

What they didn't show was the recovery/treatment follow-up for the ingrown toenails, which I think was a bit of a disservice, since it seems there's at least some focus on education in the show. There's no way the dancer was actively dancing on her feet in a week.

After my ingrown toenail excision, I had to do twice-daily soaks in Epsom salts (for 10 days initially) and keep my toe bandaged at all times other than showering. It oozed/bled for a few days and hurt enough that I took ibuprofen. It took probably a month for my toe to completely scab over and longer for the scab to naturally come off. I have a hump/ridge along the side of my nail about halfway up the length where the excision occurred. It's where the "trauma" (the excision) to the nail happened (in the process of it growing out) and that's just as far as it has grown out so far.

The doctor put me on a high dose of the antibiotic Augmentin to ward off infection after the procedure. My body DID NOT like it. I took it three days and was in the bathroom the entire time. I finally called the on-call doctor (of course it was the weekend), and he said it was okay to stop taking it. I saw my doc for a follow-up a week after the first appointment and he said the same thing, that my toe was healing well, and to continue with the soaks.

I had pictures of my toe throughout the healing process, but I deleted them several months ago. If only I had known I would need them to illustrate a personal anecdote!

Edited March 16, 2019 by bilgistic

[Eliza422]

On ‎3‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 11:17 PM, bilgistic said:

What they didn't show was the recovery/treatment follow-up for the ingrown toenails, which I think was a bit of a disservice, since it seems there's at least some focus on education in the show. There's no way the dancer was actively dancing on her feet in a week.

interesting! I was questioning the healing time for some of the more extreme procedures - and the way he digs around with those sharp tools I can't believe you could heal in just a few days!

[JJ1]

Can’t figure out how all these people with dry heels have apparently never heard of a foot peel. I do a peel every couple of months and it is awesome!  Keeps all that dead skin away!

[Rickster]

I’ve never heard of foot peels. I’m going to guess most guys have not.

This show is OK. I like the doctor and that he gives helpful hints, but I find it repetitive in a way that I don’t find with Pimple Popper for some reason. I did find the wart removal last night pretty interesting.

[Minivanessa]

6 minutes ago, Rickster said:

I’ve never heard of foot peels. I’m going to guess most guys have not.

This show is OK. I like the doctor and that he gives helpful hints, but I find it repetitive in a way that I don’t find with Pimple Popper for some reason. I did find the wart removal last night pretty interesting.

I'm a gal and I don't do foot peels. 

I agree, the show seems repetitive already. That guy in the orange Crocs was kind of a jerk. He seems to think he can ignore foot hygiene and just go in every few YEARS to have a chiropodist clean up the damage. Maybe he can, or maybe he'll push the limits too far. He has relative youth going for him now. He and his brother had quite the weird old bachelor farm brothers vibe going. I hope that was just show editing. Maybe they each have relationships, spouses, children????

They really overdosed on the overacting spouse/partner thing in this episode. The guy with the wart was cool but his partner was giving an over the top performance about every tiny part of that wart removal. Then the guy with bad toenails and his histrionic wife. 

Maybe they could limit the partner/spouse/friend histrionics in the future? More like the woman who came in with a nasty infected long-term ingrown nail, minus an entourage, and just dealt with it. Please.'

And, more on the details of aftercare for those patients. Please.

[peaceknit]

I had both of the inner nails of my big toes removed last July. The shots stung, I won't lie, but after the first one on each toe, you don't feel it. I didn't watch the procedure, so was surprised to see Toe Bro ram that instrument down the side of the nail to release it fro the nail bed before cutting it out. Almost no bleeding and you can walk on them. In addition to the twice daily epsom salt soaks, I was instructed to swab the wounds with iodine.

Ibuprofen for pain, basically zero pain after day 2. After that, it was just keeping it clean and dry. It does stay gooey for awhile, dry by about a month. Doc says it takes about one year for a toenail to grow out completely. I also have a ridge that's growing out on the side of the nail, but it's nearly to the top now. 

No more pain from digging out ingrown toenails! My only regret is that I'd not done it sooner!

I like the show so far, but what was that foot show they were also previewing? It showed a woman getting her blown achilles tendon fixed. I am not down for watching that!

Edited March 21, 2019 by peaceknit

[humbleopinion]

The crunching sound of the hemostat locking and the gator roll to extract the ingrown toenail is just gruesome....but I can't stop watching...

The people who let their toes get weepy and with pus and smelly ooze must have yucky shoes, bed sheets and socks...gross...grounds for divorce if you can't get that taken care of...

Toe Bro and Dr. Pimple Popper are doing the most good for the people who are too ashamed, scared, and in deep denial to come forth and get their ailments taken of....

Anybody watch The Office?

Orange Croc guy reminded me of Mose Schrute( Dwight's cousin) working their beet farm....

[FormerMod-a1]

I just started watching this show, just 2 episode so far (don't know which, they are reruns).  But my question is how can people have a wart for years, like 5-10 years, and not get it removed.    Yeah, they tried to treat on their own but when it got worse, they just said "oh well"?  

[Rickster]

7 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

I just started watching this show, just 2 episode so far (don't know which, they are reruns).  But my question is how can people have a wart for years, like 5-10 years, and not get it removed.    Yeah, they tried to treat on their own but when it got worse, they just said "oh well"?  

I think it depends on whether it bothers you or not. I had a plantar wart buried under a callus on the bottom of my foot for about 20 years that caused me no problems so I ignored it. On the other hand, when out of boredom I tried to get rid of it myself and made it worse, I went to a dermatologist who froze it.

[dubbel zout]

On 3/27/2019 at 6:47 AM, Rickster said:

On 3/26/2019 at 11:30 PM, aquarian1 said:

I just started watching this show, just 2 episode so far (don't know which, they are reruns).  But my question is how can people have a wart for years, like 5-10 years, and not get it removed.    Yeah, they tried to treat on their own but when it got worse, they just said "oh well"?  

I think it depends on whether it bothers you or not. I had a plantar wart buried under a callus on the bottom of my foot for about 20 years that caused me no problems so I ignored it. On the other hand, when out of boredom I tried to get rid of it myself and made it worse, I went to a dermatologist who froze it.

And if you think it's worth spending the time and money. I didn't think it was worth it until I tried OTC wart remover and it just made a mess of my feet. Fortunately the plantar's warts weren't too entrenched, so the derm could blast them with something and then I could basically just scrape them off a few days later.

I don't know how many nail extractions I can watch, regardless of the original reason. It gets repetitive. 

[sempervivum]

On ‎4‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 6:03 PM, dubbel zout said:

It gets repetitive. 

yeah- warts, fungus, ingrown/other messed up toenails, calluses...what else is there? Since he's not a surgeon, he can't treat the stuff (like bunions and hammer toe) that is actually causing the other conditions. 

What do women who have their entire big toenail removed do about open shoes/summer shoes? Are there stick on fake toenails?🙄

[ItsHelloPattiagain]

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The crunching sound of the hemostat locking and the gator roll to extract the ingrown toenail is just gruesome....but I can't stop watching...

I have a fairly strong stomach but when that hemostat locked I'm already going "ooooohhhhhh", just waiting for the "gator roll" (perfect phrase). 

One thing I do enjoy is Toe Bro's absolute enthusiasm for everything he does. He really appears to love his job, even though it appears gruesome to the rest of us. 

As for the missing big toenails - I've seen women at the pedicure place with fake big toenails. They usually involve big jewels or Swarovski (sp) crystals. So I'm sure there's some way to glue something on once the nail bed heals. Of course, they live in Canada so the season for sandals is much shorter than for us down in Florida. I guess if my toe was hurting so bad that I needed to get the toenail alligator rolled off to make the pain go away, I wouldn't really care about what it looked like afterwards....

[humbleopinion]

Watching a patient's mother pass out was a first...

How those spouses can live with their partner's festering, oozing toes is true love..

Ewww...Gross....