Ingrown Nails - Ouch they hurt!

especially on the toes

The most common place for Ingrown Nails is in the big toe, but ingrowth can occur on any nail mostly toes.

Causes and Prevention include:

1. Bad maintenance of the nail like cutting the nail too short, rounded off at the tip or peeled off at the edges as opposed to cutting straight across. 2. Having ill-fitting shoes. Those that are too narrow or too short can cause bunching of the toes in the developmental stages of the foot causing the nail to curl and dig into the skin. 3 Stubbing the toenail, dropping things on the toe and 'going through the end of your shoes' during sports, can cause the flesh to become injured and the nail to grow irregularly and press into the flesh]; and 4. Abnormally shaped nail beds, nail deformities caused by diseases, and a genetic susceptibility to nail problems can mean a tendency to Ingrown Nails

Symptoms of an ingrown nail include pain along the margins of the nail. Worsening of pain when wearing shoes or other tight articles, and sensiivity to pressure of any kind, even the weight of bed sheets or a duvet.

Bumping of an affected toe with objects can produce sharp, even excruciating, pain as the tissue is punctured further by the ingrown nail.

By the very nature of the condition, ingrown nails become easily infected unless special care is taken to treat the condition early on and keep the area as clean as possible.

Signs of infection include redness and swelling of the area around the nail, drainage of pus and watery discharge tinged with blood. The main symptom is swelling at the base of the nail on whichever side (if not both sides) the ingrowing nail is forming.

If an ingrown nail is left untreated, there exists a high risk of dangerous infection. When the skin around the nail gets infected. It begins to swell up and put even more pressure against the nail.

Ingrown toe nails can produce a spear shaped wedge of nail on the lateral side of the toe which will progressively become more embedded into the toe tissue as the nail grows forward.

In the worst case, the swelling will begin putting sideways pressure on the nail, causing it to grow at a slant. This will cause both sides of the nail to eventually become ingrown.

An untreated ingrown toenail will cause a person to walk with a limp, which over a long period of time may cause further pain and injury to the foot, leg and back owing to improper distribution of weight.

Other non-direct effects of seriously ingrown nails include lack of exercise, constant and unrelenting pain and pressure which is often extreme and debilitating when weight has been on the foot for an extended period of time.

Amputation of the toe, foot or leg may be the final outcome if the infection is left untreated long enough for gangrene to set in as a result of a foot ulcer, most common on people with diabetes.

One should always consult a doctor when infection is present.

Treatment for mild cases:-

Doctors recommend daily soaking of the afflicted digit in a mixture of warm water and Epsom salts and applying an over-the-counter antiseptic

Peroxide is immediately effective to help clean minor infections but iodine is more effective in the long term as it continues to prevent bacterial growth even after it is dry. [N.B.: Iodine should not be used on deep wounds. In such cases a physician or podiatrist should be consulted.

Source of information Wikipedia.

Further advice from :-Hiroko Arai, MD, PhD , Takeo Arai, MD, PhD , Hiroshi Nakajima, MD, PhD , and Eckart Haneke, MD, PhD

Background The treatment of choice for an ingrowing nail has been surgical rather than nonsurgical. Yet, surgical treatments are far from successful, cause pain and patient apprehension, and leave disfigurement. Further, there is misunderstanding about the disease pathophysiology.

Objective To demonstrate the benefits of a noninvasive method of treatment for an ingrowing nail using gutter splint and formable acrylics and to present a current understanding of the disease pathophysiology.

Methods From a total of 541 cases of ingrowing nails treated, full follow-up data were obtained between January 1979 and March 2002. Formable acrylic treatments were carried out in 106 cases treated with acrylic-affixed gutter splint, 17 cases with sculptured nails, and 28 cases in which the two treatments were combined. These were then compared with 233 cases treated with adhesive tape-attached gutter splint and the remainder with other conservative modalities.

Results Acrylic treatment with gutter splint and sculptured nail was found to be vastly superior to the other methods described, especially in the ability to firmly affix the gutter splint and sculptured nail for the extended period required for treatment.The treatment leads to a complete remission with almost instant alleviation of pain, with no disfigurement, while allowing for the resumption of daily activities.

Conclusion

Conservative methods utilizing formable acrylics are highly beneficial in the treatment of an ingrowing nail and should be viewed as the first treatment option.

and this

Description : Ingrown Nails

This section is from the "Henley's Twentieth Century Formulas Recipes Processes" encyclopedia, by Norman W. Henley and others.Ingrowing Nails.

Copious applications of dried powdered alum are sufficient to cure every case of ingrowing nail in about 5 days. The applications are not painful in the least, and the destruction of the pathologic tissue results in the formation of a hard, resistant, and non-sensitive bed for the nail, a perfect cure for the ingrowing tendency. Apply a fomentation of soap and water for 24 hours beforehand and then pour the alum into the space between the nail and its bed, tamponing with cotton to keep the alum in place, and repeating the application daily. The suppuration rapidly dries up, and pain and discomfort are relieved almost at once.

In conclusion

WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR IN GROWING TOE NAILS

* Cut toe nails straight across and leave them slightly longer to prevent a In growing toe nail.

* Avoid tight shoes

* If discomfort occurs try soaking the feet in luke warm salt water for 10 minutes each day. See the article on Foot Baths

* SEEK IMMEDIATE ADVICE FROM A CHIROPODIST

CAUSES OF IN GROWING TOE NAILS

* Trauma to the nail

* Improper cutting of toe nails.

* Tight shoes or hosiery

* Abnormal shape of nail plate

* Abnormal thickness of nail

Return to the Top of Ingrown Nails page

Return to Foot Conditions