Ingrown toe nails are a common problem that can be quite painful plus they do not get better by themselves. Ingrown toe nails usually are amongst the most frequent conditions treated by podiatry practitioners. The key cause of an ingrown toenail is usually a mixture of a rounded toe nail and a bad toenail cutting technique.
The management of the ingrown toenail would depend on if it is infected or not. If it is, the podiatrist may prescribe antibiotics. Although this will settle the infection, it will not correct the problem since the bit of ingrown toe nail that may be triggering the problem is still present. A highly skilled Podiatrist may easily take out the corner or spike on the side of the nail which has penetrated the skin and is causing the condition. A skilled podiatrist can usually perform this with fairly little pain. Unless that problem portion of nail which can be creating the ingrown toe nail is removed, the infection will likely persist and the problem is still present. Following this, adequate wound care and also the use of dressings is needed to help get the infection treated properly. If the pain continues following this first treatment, this may be as a result of there being another spike of toenail further down resulting in the symptoms.
In the event the ingrown toenail is acute, or if traditional care is difficult, or maybe the ingrown toenail keeps happening again after that a minor surgical intervention is a typically recommended by the podiatrist. This minor surgical procedure is usually a relatively simple treatment that is very successful for long term relief that is long lasting. There are a selection of different minor surgical procedures that can be used by a Podiatry practitioner for ingrown toenails with the majority of these being performed using a local anaesthetic. The most common operation will be the removing a portion of the toe nail along the side of the toe nail which is creating the trouble. However, after a nail or part of the toe nail taken off, it will re-grow as the growing cells within the base of the nail are still there. Most often an acid solution can be used to destroy the growing cells to stop regrowth of the section of nail which is taken away. There are other options to stop the toenail from growing back which include surgically debriding the growing cells or perhaps by using a laser. For some unidentified reason a couple of percent of them may be recurrent. Generally, after the ingrown nail procedure you will have to keep your foot elevated for a couple of hours and rest is recommended. The following day, you should be in the position to return to work or school. The podiatry practitioner will generally suggest for you not to be involved in pursuits, for example jogging for about 14 days following the operation. Using an open toe shoe can often be beneficial. This helps to ensure that there is no pressure on the toe to affect recovery.
Should you have an ingrown toenail or are susceptible to ingrown toe nails, then it could be a good idea to get guidance from a foot doctor as to what your better options are to deal with and stop ingrown nails.