What is an ingrown toenail?
A nail that has penetrated the skin.
Ingrown toenails can be excruciatingly painful. The skin turns bright red and shiny, and the toe appears swollen. You may experience throbbing pain and tenderness to the slightest touch. The pain can often stop you playing sport.
Sometimes you just get a nail that digs in and presses uncomfortably on your skin all the time when wearing shoes. This can cause a constant pain like a toothache, just as problematic as having an infected nail.
The most common factors causing ingrown nails are trauma or damage to the toe, incorrect nail cutting, excessive sweating, and tight footwear. Infection is often a problem as an ingrown toenail can have an open wound.
Does cutting a ‘V’ in the centre stop my toenail ingrowing.
Unfortunately not, this is an old wives’ tale. Sometimes patients self-treat their ingrown toenail by cutting it back down the sides. For a time this might feel better but cutting down the side of the nail often leaves a spike and as the nail regrows the ingrown toenail recurs.
The good news is that there is something we can do about it.
Sometimes Our Podiatrists can treat the nail conservatively removing the spike and getting the wound to heal but in some cases we need to perform nail surgery to remove the spike and stop the problem recurring.
Nail surgery is a procedure used by podiatrists to remove a small portion or occasionally in some cases the entire toenail.
This a simple, procedure in which the penetrating splinter and a small portion of nail is removed and treated with a chemical to prevent regrowth. We do the procedure under a local anaesthetic so that you don’t feel pain and once the nail is healed the appearance of the nail is usually fairly normal and you can go back to wearing sandals.
If you want to find out more make an appointment for a FREE INGROWING TOENAIL ASSESSMENT with one of our Podiatrists.
Here are some tips to help prevent you getting an ingrowing toenail:
• Trim your nails straight across and don’t cut them too short.
• Wash your feet daily and dry them carefully.
• Wear shoes that fit correctly.
• Avoid tearing or cutting down the sides of the nails, it will cause a nail spike.
• Seek help sooner rather than later if you do get a problem.
Nail surgery is done frequently in clinic by our Podiatrists with very good outcomes. Many of our patients have suffered for years before seeking help with their ingrowing toenails and are thrilled with the speedy resolution of pain and relief that they experience following our nail treatments or nail surgery. Often, they will say that they wish they had sought help sooner.
6 weeks after nail surgery
If you are suffering with ingrowing or painful toenails, please contact us. Our Podiatrists can tell you more about your treatment options, help you return to comfort quickly and let you get on with more important things in life. please click to Book an Appointment
or chat to us about your problem
