Preventing and Treating Ingrown Toenails

1. The way you cut your nails

When it’s time for a trim, cut straight across the nail, making sure to leave a bit of visible white growth. Also, avoid following the curve of the nail bed and moving into the corners. Why? Go too low or too curved on your clip, and you could cause trauma to the nail, increasing the risk of ingrowth.  Already have ingrown nails? Don’t try to fix the problem at home: you’ll end up in pain, and you’re more likely to sustain an infection. 

2. Previous injuries. 

Any form of toenail trauma, from a stub to a dropped item on the nail, can change the way your nail grows. How could that be? An injury can push your nail down into your skin. If that happens, you may develop a painful, inflamed or infected ingrown toenail.  

3. The biomechanics of your foot.  

This term describes the way your muscles, tendons and ligaments interact as you move. In some cases, your biomechanics increase the risk for ingrown toenails. That’s the case if your gait involves rolling off the edge of your big toe, because the pressure of that motion can cause the sharp edge of your nail to push into the delicate skin of the nail bed, leading to ingrowth.

• Pain, swelling or redness, on one or both sides of your nail
• Pus, drainage or bleeding on the sides of your nail 

If your discomfort improves in a few days, then you’re in great shape. But if you still show signs of an ingrown toenail at that point, it’s time to make an appointment with Dr. Lisa Brandy. 

Once you come into the office, we can treat ingrown toenails in several different ways. If you already have an infection, or if you’ve already had several ingrown toenails, surgery may be your best option. But, unlike other surgical procedures, when we perform an ingrown toenail surgery, we can provide treatment using local anesthetic for a quick and comfortable procedure. 

However, if those ingrown toenails keep coming back, you may need a more permanent solution. In such cases, medications that cauterize the nail matrix cells may provide a longer-lasting solution. Afterward, ingrowth should never again be a problem. 

But what if trauma is the cause of your ingrown nail? In that case, your entire nail plate may need to be removed. (This may also be your best treatment option if your nail is very thick or painful. Before such a procedure, we’ll still numb the toe using an injection of local anesthesia. Next, we’ll remove the nail. But this procedure is only recommended when you’re dealing with chronic, painful ingrown toenails.) 

Would you prefer to avoid surgery—and the pain of an ingrown toenail? Let’s try to steer clear of ingrown toenail treatments by preventing this problem instead!