There could be many reasons your toe turns red. Minor injuries like a stubbed toe can be treated at home. But other more serious toe issues that include pain and swelling aymptoms may warrant visiting your doctor.

If your toes turn red, you’ll usually have more symptoms than just discoloration. Causes for red toes include:

Injury

Stubbing or dropping something on your toe could cause enough trauma to turn it red. Other injuries such as the repeated pressure and abrasion of a shoe that doesn’t fit could also result in a red toe. This can cause pain and swelling in addition to redness.

Treatment could include:

  • over-the-counter (OTC) pain medications such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), or naproxen (Aleve)
  • immobilization, often by taping to a neighboring toe

Skin infection

When bacteria living on your skin gets into your skin itself, the result can be cellulitis, a common skin infection.

Symptoms in addition to toe redness can include:

Treatment could include:

Irritant contact dermatitis

When your skin comes in contact with certain substances —such as gasoline or detergents like soaps and bleach — it can become inflamed.

Symptoms in addition to toe redness can include:

  • toe and foot pain
  • rough skin

Treatment could include:

  • avoiding contact with the irritating substance
  • moisturizer to relieve inflamed skin

Allergic contact dermatitis

When your skin comes in contact with an allergen — plants such as poison ivy and metals such as nickel — it can become inflamed.

Symptoms in addition to toe redness can include:

Treatment could include:

  • avoiding contact with the allergen
  • moisturizer to relieve inflamed skin

Athlete’s foot

Also known as tinea pedis, athlete’s foot is a fungal infection of your toes or feet.

Symptoms in addition to toe redness can include:

Treatment could include:

  • OTC antifungal sprays or ointments
  • oral antifungal medications such as terbinafine (Lamisil) or itraconazole (Onmel, Sporanox)
  • home remedies

Gout

A form of arthritis, gout can cause redness.

Other symptoms can include:

Treatment involves pain relief and lessening inflammation. These could include:

  • OTC nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for pain such as ibuprofen and naproxen sodium
  • prescription NSAIDs such as indomethacin (Indocin) or celecoxib (Celebrex)
  • colchicine (Colcrys, Mitigare)
  • corticosteroids, such as prednisone (Deltasone, Prednicot) for pain relief and inflammation reduction
  • allopurinol (Aloprim, Zyloprim) or febuxostat (Uloric) to limit the amount of uric acid your body makes
  • probenecid (Probalan) or lesinurad (Zurampic) to improve uric acid removal

Nail infection

Known as paronychia, an infection of your nail folds is typically caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria or a fungus and can cause toe pain and swelling.

Treatment could include:

Peripheral vascular disease

Peripheral vascular disease is caused by decreased blood flow to your legs and feet due to clogged arteries (atherosclerosis).

Symptoms can include:

  • toe and foot redness
  • toe and foot itchiness

Treatment could include:

  • lifestyle changes such as starting a regular exercise program and stopping the use of tobacco products
  • cholesterol-lowering medications (statins)
  • high blood pressure medications
  • medications to prevent blood clots, such as aspirin or clopidogrel (Plavix)
  • medications to relieve symptoms, such as cilostazol (Pletal) or pentoxifylline (Trental)
  • surgery such as angioplasty

There are multiple explanations for a toe being red. Some are simple and easy to treat and some more severe. If you have a minor injury such as a stubbed — but not broken — toe, you should be able to treat it at home.

If you’re not sure why your toe’s red and have other symptoms like pain and swelling, see your doctor for a full diagnosis.