Man screams in agony as doctor sands down his ‘croissant-like’ toenails

A man screamed in agony when a doctor sanded down his ‘croissant-like toenails’ in My Feet Are Killing Me.

In tonight’s episode of the Quest Rest show, David, from New Jersey, reveals he has been struggling to walk properly ever since developing a foot and nail fungus five years ago. 

‘My feet are just a train wreck, and I’m embarrassed about it,’ he says. 

Other than their appearance, David’s feet cause him constant pain, and he struggles slipping his shoes on and off. 

‘It hurts like hell,’ he admits. ‘I’ve learnt to adapt and adjust. 

After developing the problem while dealing with the loss his loving mum, David stopped taking care of himself, and the condition of his feet quickly deteriorated. 

‘Losing my mother, that just killed me,’ an emotional David reveals. ‘She was wonderful.’

Visiting foot and ankle surgeon Dr Brad Schaeffer, David is finally looking to get some help, but not without a warning first. 

‘I just hope you didn’t have a big breakfast today. Man, you’re in a for a shocker!’ David says. 

As Dr Schaeffer slowly removes David’s socks, the horrifying extent of David’s foot fungus is revealed – his toenails have overgrown and twisted, and the skin all around the foot is dry, dusty and flakes off in sheets.

Dr Schaeffer is almost lost for words as he examines David’s feet. 

‘When I removed David’s socks, there was just flakes and flakes coming off of his feet,’ he says, as the patient winces in pain. ‘I’ve seen bad cases, but this is the worst case of toenail fungus that I have seen.’

‘David’s nails were so long that they were curling on top of each other, almost bridging together.’

‘His skin was flaking off, you could literally take little pieces of it off. It looked like a croissant.’ 

The bottom of David’s feet are also covered in rock-hard callouses, which make walking difficult. 

‘It feels like walking on land mines,’ David jokes.   

To make matters worse, he has a genetic condition which will complicate his treatment. 

‘The danger for haemophilia is internal bleeding, the stuff that you can’t see,’ David’s brother John says. 

With David at risk of infection, Dr Schaeffer decides to carefully clip and file down his toenails, remove as much dead skin as possible, and give him a regime to take better care of his feet going forward. 

‘Well, if you see me skyrocket through the ceiling, then you know that had to hurt,’ David chuckles, as he gets prepped for the procedure.

With David laid back and relaxed, Dr Schaeffer starts clipping at his nails, chiselling chunks off at a time. 

‘I’m going to chip away at David’s toenails, and once they’re removed I’m going to file them down so it looks like a normal foot,’ Dr Schaeffer says, laying out his plan of action. 

With David’s haemophilia, Dr Schaeffer’s biggest concern is not cutting him during the operation. But while separating his toes, Dr Schaeffer accidentally nicks the skin and draws blood. 

Luckily, and after applying pressure, the bleeding stops. Writhing and moaning in pain, David can only watch as Dr Schaeffer sands down the huge chunks of overgrown nail and skin with an electric file. 

‘Just don’t stop, keep cutting until you get to the other side,’ he says defiantly. 

After cutting the nails, Dr Schaeffer decides gauge out some of David’s corns, causing him more excruciating pain. 

‘David had one of the largest corns I’ve ever seen, it was huge,’ Dr Schaeffer says, holding a hard mass of skin in his hand. 

After a gruelling procedure, David’s feet are almost unrecognizable.

‘Mission accomplished!’ a delighted David says, hugging Dr Schaeffer. 

Leaving the clinic, David gets to do something he hasn’t done in nearly five years – walk away wearing a brand new pair of shoes!

My Feet Are Killing Me premieres at 10pm Tuesdays 21st April exclusively on Quest Red and dplay