Nailbed Repair for Patients With Nailbed Injuries

July 16, 2026 updated by: Anna Luan, Stanford University

Nail Bed Repair RCT

This study compares the outcomes of fixing nail bed injuries with nail bed repair versus irrigation and dressing alone. The main question this study aims to answer is "Does nail bed repair after nail bed injury lead to better outcomes?"

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

This study compares two treatment methods for patients with nail bed injuries. The first method is irrigation and dressing. The second method is nail bed repair. Patients will be randomized into one of the two groups and outcomes will be documented in both groups.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
100

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Palo Alto, California, United States, 94305
        • Recruiting
        • Stanford University
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Anna Luan, MD
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Rachel Roller, MD

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • patients 2+ years of age
  • presenting with disruption of nail plate or laceration adjacent to nail which appears that it may extend into the nail matrix OR subungual hematoma >50% of nail
  • presenting within 3 days of acute injury

Exclusion Criteria:

  • missing (e.g. avulsed) nail bed or segment of nail bed,
  • prior injury to affected nail
  • need for surgical treatment of injury (e.g. underlying operative fracture)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Active Comparator: No nail bed repair (Irrigation and Dressing)

Patients in this arm will receive the following treatment protocol:

  1. If there is a subungual hematoma >50% of the nail, trephinate the nail plate using an 18G needle
  2. Irrigate wound with at least 500cc normal saline
  3. Dress finger with bacitracin, Adaptic or xeroform, and 2" kling wrap
  4. Splint finger as needed with alumifoam splint (apply splint to volar side of finger so as to avoid pressure to nail bed)
  5. Repair any other lacerations as needed
  6. Discharge on Keflex x7d with referral for followup in hand clinic in 1-2 weeks
Other: Nail bed dressing
  1. If there is a subungual hematoma >50% of the nail, trephinate the nail plate using an 18G needle
  2. Irrigate wound with at least 500cc normal saline
  3. Dress finger with bacitracin, xeroform, and 2" kling wrap
  4. Splint finger as needed with alumifoam splint (apply splint to volar side of finger so as to avoid pressure to nail bed)
  5. Repair any other lacerations as needed
Experimental: Nail bed repair

Patients in this arm will receive the following treatment protocol:

  1. Block involved digit with 3cc 1% lidocaine injected subcutaneously over volar and dorsal metacarpophalangeal joint
  2. Apply tourniquet to base of finger if desired
  3. Remove nail using freer/hemostats
  4. Irrigate wound with at least 500cc normal saline
  5. Repair nail bed laceration with 5-0 chromic or monocryl suture
  6. Fashion substitute nail from foil suture packet, stent eponychium, and secure with 2 absorbable sutures
  7. Dress finger with bacitracin, Adaptic or xeroform, and 2" kling wrap
  8. Splint finger as needed with alumifoam splint (apply splint to volar side of finger so as to avoid pressure to nail bed)
  9. Repair any other lacerations as needed
  10. Discharge on Keflex x7d with referral for followup in hand clinic in 1-2 weeks
Other: Nail Bed Repair
  1. Block involved digit with 3cc 1% lidocaine injected subcutaneously over volar and dorsal metacarpophalangeal joint
  2. Apply tourniquet to base of finger if desired
  3. Remove nail using freer/hemostats
  4. Irrigate wound with at least 500cc normal saline
  5. Repair nail bed laceration with 5-0 chromic or monocryl suture
  6. Stent eponychium with native nail or fashion substitute from foil suture packet and secure with 2 sutures
  7. Dress finger with bacitracin, xeroform, and 2" kling wrap
  8. Splint finger as needed with alumifoam splint (apply splint to volar side of finger so as to avoid pressure to nail bed)
  9. Repair any other lacerations as needed

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Oxford Nail Score
Time Frame: From time of treatment, outcomes will be measured at 1-2 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years
The Oxford Nail Score assess five cosmetic components marked as binary outcomes composed of nail shape, nail adherence, eponychial appearance, nail surface appearance and presence of a split. The final score is 0-5, where 0 is "least optimal appearance" and 5 is "most optimal appearance."
From time of treatment, outcomes will be measured at 1-2 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Nail regrowth
Time Frame: 1-2 weeks, 6 weeks, 1 year, 2 years
Nail regrowth will be documented on a binary scale (yes or no) by an evaulator via photo.
1-2 weeks, 6 weeks, 1 year, 2 years
NRS Pain score
Time Frame: 1-2 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years
Patients will rate their nailbed on a 0-10 scale, where 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst pain imaginable.
1-2 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years
Evidence of infection
Time Frame: 1-2 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years
Evidence of infection will be evaluated on a binary scale (yes or no) by an evaluator via photo.
1-2 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years
Subjective Cosmesis
Time Frame: 1-2 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years
Patients will self-score their cosmesis on a 5-point Likert scale, from "excellent" to "very poor"
1-2 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Stanford University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
June 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
October 31, 2030

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
October 31, 2030

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
January 28, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 28, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
February 5, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
July 20, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 16, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 82680

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

We do not have plans to share this data set.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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