Why is my toenail purple?

I noticed one day the my left big toe is purple. Its a darker purple towards the cutical kinda like of dome shaped and goes to a lighter purple to the end of toenail. Only my left big toe is like this. I haven’t injured it, I’m a stay at home mom so I mostly just wear flip flops, theres no sign of ingrown toenail and there’s no pain or discomfort. It just really bothers me thats its purple and I don’t know why.

It may be response to irritation from a fungual or bacterial infection. Rarely, it may be a sign of the skin cancer melanoma. See doctor.

Here are some of the signs of subungual melanoma:

-Spread of pigmentation into the nail folds.

-Pigmentation in a single digit

  • Occurs at age 50 or older

  • Occurs in the thumb, index finger, or great toe

  • Blurred borders

  • History of melanoma