The great toenails of 302 newborn infants were evaluated to identify a specific conformation which might predispose these children to chronic paronychia. Forty-one infants who appeared to have great toenails impeded by tissue distally were followed for 12 months. All had essentially normal appearing nails by six months of age. None developed chronic paronychia. The results suggest that. the changes originally noted were variations in the normal development of the great toenail.
