Most of us experience the pain of an ingrown toe nail at some point. They can be very painful to walk around with, and if left untreated can become infected and filled with pus. So how can we look after our nails at home to avoid such disasters?
Tips to avoiding and managing ingrown toe nails:
1. Appropriate footwear – shoes with a narrow shallow toe box are not good for our feet for a number of reasons. When our forefoot and toes are continually squeezed into a tight shoe space this can cause the nails to become thickened and curl inwards due to repetitive trauma. Wearing shoes with a wide deep toe box and secure fastenings will allow room for your foot to adapt and propel off the ground while protecting your nail health.
2. Avoiding temptation – when we start to feel the pressure of an ingrown toe nail it can be very tempting to try and remove this offending piece of nail ourselves. This often leads to further damage and longer term issues with ingrowing toe nails. Cutting errors can leave large spikes of nail and damage the surrounding skin. Often I see people attending the podiatry clinic who have continually attempted to remove their own ingrown toe nails and damaged both nail and skin right back to the nail base. Seeing a Podiatrist to confidently and safely remove offending pieces of nail early on is highly valuable and can avoid unnecessary trauma to the nail. Having a Podiatrist felt pack your ingrowing nails is also another useful technique to growing out ingrown toe nails after being removed by a skilled Podiatrist.
3. Nail cutting technique – if you have had an ingrown toe nail that has grown out, or nail shape that is excessively curved, cutting the nail straight across is an excellent way to avoid recurrence.
If conservative strategies fail for ingrown toe nails then a surgical option should be considered. This involves the permanent removal of the offending section of nail.
To discuss the management of painful ingrown toe nails, book in with one of our skilled Podiatrists today.
This article was written by one of our skilled podiatrists, Jane. To book in with Jane either give us a call and book in with her over the phone or select ‘Jane’ as your practitioner when booking online.
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