Ingrown toenails can be very painful and so many people put off seeking treatment until the nail is deteriorated and possibly infected.
Many ingrown toe nails can be treated without the need for surgery, although conservative measures may mean that you have to visit a podiatrist at regular intervals. Many ingrown nails can be treated surgically in a podiatrist’s rooms with the procedure taking an hour or less.
Cause: Several reasons, but most commonly a poor cutting technique. Most people find it a relief to cut down the side of their nail. Unfortunately often a very small spike is inadvertently left in the side, which may grow up and penetrate the skin. This acts as a foreign body, becomes inflamed and infected. The same process may occur if you were to get a splinter in your finger.
Other causes may be involuted nails, which may pinch the skin, or poor footwear – which is generally too tight, forcing the nail into the skin causing an irritation.
What are they? Most commonly, pain around the top free edge of the nail, with red warm skin and in more severe cases a pussy discharge.
How are they treated? The small portion of nail needs to be removed. In most cases this is a simple procedure taking only minutes. Our podiatrist will then clean the area and, if necessary, dress the toe if it has been infected. This is painless.
Nail surgery: In the most extreme case nail surgery may be required. We have extensive training in this field. No stiches are required. Little if any scaring occurs and you are able to walk out from the procedure immediately after. The success rate for the procedure is very high.
Best advice, get it checked out now. Ask your podiatrist to give you a quick lesson on how to trim your nails and what the best treatment is for your ingrown nail.
For more information about nail problems download the brochure below.
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