Ingrown Nails
Nail Infection ("Paronychia")
Is there anything more painful than stubbing your toe? How about stubbing your toe when you have an ingrown nail that's been bugging you for the past month? Ouch.
Ingrown nails occur most often on the toes, and while they aren't deadly they can be very debilitating and painful. They can also make it more likely to develop a skin infection called paronychia.
Why Does This Happen?
This can happen for many reasons. Improper footwear (too tight in the toes), toenail fungus, and unfortunately genetics can contribute. Cutting your nails too short, however, can unfortunately be one of the the most common causes. You want to make sure that you allow the nail to grow past the edge of your toe, and cut it straight across without "rounding it off" as shown below.
What Can I Do?
Once the horse is out of the barn though, it can be tough to fix. There are several things you can do at home, to see if you can improve the issue on your own.
1. Soak the affected digit in a warm Epsom salt bath for 15 minutes every night.
2. After finishing your soak, gently use a nail file or length of dental floss to pull the skin away from the ingrown side.
3. After this is done, place a wisp of cotton (from a Q-tip or cotton ball) under the nail to raise it up, and leave it there for the next day.
Alternatively, you can try a strong piece of tape attached to the affected skin fold, wrapped under the button of your toe, and attached to the nail on the other side. This can pull the skin fold away from the ingrown nail.
What Can My Doctor Do?
Ultimately, what will be most effective both at treating the problem and preventing it from coming back, is a minor in-office procedure that your doctor can do. Called a "toenail avulsion," this consists of numbing your toe thoroughly, cutting a small sliver off of the nail, and using a chemical to stop the nail from re-growing in that area. A simplified graphic of that is shown below.
This leaves you with the protection of a toenail like before, without the pain of the ingrown portion. While I understand this isn't something you would likely want to jump to, the vast majority of patients who have this done have an immediate improvement in their symptoms.
Do NOT try this at home however! The doctor will numb your toe and make sure that everything is sterile before performing any procedures!
