Ingrown toenails happen when the edges or corners of your nails grow into the skin beside the nail. Usually, it’s the big toe that’s most prone to getting an ingrown toenail. When a toenail grows into the skin around the nail bed, it’s termed as an ingrown toenail. These can cause pain and may lead to infections. While you can try treating ingrown toenails at home, they might sometimes lead to complications needing medical attention. Complications are more likely if you have diabetes or other conditions that affect blood circulation.
What Leads to Ingrown Toenails?
Ingrown toenails can affect both men and women. The National Health Services (NHS) suggests that people with sweaty feet, like teenagers, might be more prone to them. Additionally, older individuals may face a higher risk because toenails tend to thicken as they age.
Several factors can lead to an ingrown toenail, such as cutting toenails incorrectly. It’s important to cut them straight across because angling the sides of the nail can encourage it to grow into the skin.
Other causes of ingrown toenails include having irregular, curved toenails, and wearing footwear that exerts excessive pressure on the big toes, such as tight socks or stockings, or shoes that are too narrow, tight, or flat for your feet. Additionally, toenail injuries, like stubbing your toe, dropping something heavy on your foot, or repeated kicking of a ball, can also contribute to ingrown toenails.
Factors like poor posture, improper foot hygiene (such as neglecting to keep your feet clean or dry), and genetic predisposition can also contribute to ingrown toenails. Additionally, engaging extensively in athletic activities can make you more susceptible to them. Sports that involve repeated kicking of an object or prolonged pressure on the feet, like ballet, football, kickboxing, and soccer, can lead to toenail damage and elevate the risk of ingrown toenails.
Identifying the Signs
The symptoms of ingrown toenails can be painful and tend to progress in stages. In the early stages, you may notice that the skin next to the nail becomes tender, swollen, or hardened, and there may be pain when pressure is applied to the toe. Additionally, fluid may accumulate around the toe. If the toe becomes infected, symptoms may include red, swollen skin, pain, bleeding, oozing pus, and overgrowth of skin around the toe. It’s important to treat ingrown toenails promptly to prevent the symptoms from worsening.
Diagnosing Ingrown Toenails: Methods and Procedures
Diagnosing ingrown toenails typically involves a physical examination by your doctor. If there are signs of infection, your doctor may recommend an X-ray to assess the depth of nail penetration into the skin. This can also help determine if the ingrown nail resulted from an injury.
Managing Ingrown Toenails: Treatment Choices
Treatment options for ingrown toenails depend on whether there’s an infection present. If the toenail isn’t infected, home remedies may suffice. However, if the nail has penetrated the skin or signs of infection are present, medical attention is necessary. Signs of infection include warmth, pus, redness and swelling.
For home treatment, soaking your feet in warm water for 15 to 20 minutes, three to four times a day can help. It’s essential to keep your shoes and feet dry at other times.
Additional home remedies for ingrown toenails include gently pushing the skin away from the edge of the toenail using a cotton ball soaked in olive oil. Over-the-counter pain relievers like acetaminophen (Tylenol) can help alleviate discomfort. Applying a topical antibiotic, such as Neosporin containing polymyxin and neomycin, or a steroid cream, can aid in preventing infection.
Continue home treatments for a few days to weeks. If the pain intensifies or if walking or other activities become difficult due to the ingrown toenail, it’s advisable to consult your doctor.
When home treatments fail to address the issue or if an infection develops, surgery may be necessary for ingrown toenails. If there’s an infection, it’s crucial to discontinue all home remedies and seek medical attention from your doctor.
Surgical Solutions for Ingrown Toenails
Surgical treatments for ingrown toenails vary and may include partial or total nail removal. Partial nail removal entails extracting the portion of the nail that’s causing discomfort. Your doctor administers a numbing agent to your toe before carefully trimming the toenail. According to the NHS, this procedure boasts a 98 percent success rate in preventing future ingrown toenails.
During partial nail removal, the sides of the nail are trimmed to ensure straight edges. To prevent recurrence, a small piece of cotton is positioned beneath the remaining nail. Additionally, your doctor might apply a compound called phenol to the treated area to inhibit nail regrowth.
In cases where ingrown nails stem from thickening, total nail removal may be necessary. This procedure, known as a matrixectomy, involves your doctor administering a local pain-relieving injection before completely removing the nail.
Post-Surgery Care for Ingrown Toenails
Following surgery, your doctor will provide you with a bandaged toe and instructions for care at home. It’s advisable to keep your foot elevated for one to two days and wear specialized footwear to promote proper healing of your toe.
Minimize movement as much as possible during the initial recovery period. Typically, the bandage is removed two days post-surgery. Your doctor may recommend wearing open-toe shoes and conducting daily salt water soaks until your toe fully heals. Additionally, you’ll likely be prescribed pain relief medication and antibiotics to stave off infection.
After undergoing partial nail removal surgery, your toenail is expected to regrow within a few months. However, if the entire nail is extracted down to the base, which includes the nail matrix beneath your skin, it may take over a year for a new toenail to fully grow back.
Possible Complications Arising from Ingrown Toenails
If left untreated, an infection from an ingrown toenail can extend to the bone in your toe and lead to foot ulcers, resulting in diminished blood flow to the affected area and potential tissue decay or death. Individuals with diabetes face heightened risks, as even minor injuries like cuts or ingrown toenails can quickly progress to serious infections due to reduced blood flow and nerve sensitivity. It’s crucial for those with diabetes to promptly seek medical attention if concerned about an ingrown toenail infection.
For those genetically predisposed to ingrown toenails, recurrence on multiple toes is possible, impacting quality of life with pain and recurring infections. Such cases may require multiple treatments or surgeries. In some instances, doctors may recommend partial or full matrixectomy to alleviate chronic pain by removing problematic toenails.
Prevention strategies for ingrown toenails include trimming toenails straight across, avoiding overly short cuts, wearing well-fitting footwear, and using protective gear like steel-toe boots in hazardous environments, with surgery considered in severe cases as a preventive treatment.
Please let us know if you have any questions and do leave a comment
Contact us for more details:
Total Orthocare
59 A, MNR Complex,
Near Steel Factory Bus Stop,
Dodda Banaswadi Main Road,
Bengaluru-560043
Phone: 080-4370 1281
Mobile: 9591618833
