What is an ingrowing toenail?
We've all heard of ingrowing toenails, or known someone who has had one, and know just how troublesome they can be. They can happen to anyone, of any age, and can become infected and painful. An ingrowing toenail is similar to a splinter that digs into the skin down one or both sides of the toenail, except that splinter is actually part of the toenail.
The image below shows clearly the big toe of a recent patient whose nail had ingrown and become infected. It had caused her a lot of pain, even at night in bed with just the sheets touching the toe.
What causes ingrowing toenails?
1. Bad nail cutting: It may be that you've cut your toenail and have missed a shard of nail and not noticed. As the toenail keeps growing it drives this sharp shard of nail into the skin.
2. Picking toenails: Rather than cutting with scissors or clippers and filing round afterwards, some people prefer to pick their nails, either through habit or sometimes laziness ( a lot of teenagers are guilty of this)!. The nail becomes torn away from itself and the jagged edge digs into the skin.
3. Footwear: Tight fitting footwear that is either too pointed or narrow can be enough to force the fleshy skin on either side of the toe on to the toenail edge, forcing the nail into the skin. Some specific types of sporting shoes such as football boots, dance or golf shoes which are very close-fitting can cause this to happen. Footwear that is wide and roomy enough around the toes will help to prevent ingrowing toenails, you should feel as if you can wiggle your toes around in the shoe and that they do not feel restricted.
4. Nail shape: Not everyone's toenails are gently curved (look at your fingernails, they have a gentle curve from side-to-side), some have toenails that are shaped like horseshoes and the edges curve sharply inwards. Others have very wide, flared nails that don't really have enough space. These are prone to causing ingrowing toenails.
What can we do to help you?
It depends how bad the problem is. If it's just started and the skin around the nail is a bit red and inflammed, along with some discomfort or pain, it may be we can treat it by snipping the splinter of nail out gently with a very fine pair of nippers and ensure that the nail is nice and smooth along the edge. This can be done in a normal clinical appointment and doesn't involve an anaesthetic. This may be all that's needed and within a few days that sore toe of yours will be back to normal.
If the problem has been there a bit longer, or is persistent time after time, or it's very bad, you may need nail surgery. Surgery sounds a scary word, but the term 'nail surgery' is used to describe a minor surgical procedure carried out under a local anaesthetic (making just the toe go numb so you can't feel the procedure taking place).
Once your toe is numb we remove the section of offending toenail and treat the skin underneath (the nailbed) that the nail grows from and attaches to, to stop that area re-growing another piece of toenail. It's a really successful long-term solution with a 95% rate of success.
It takes about 4-6 weeks for the area to fully heal up again with dressings being applied each day and the nail usually only looks slightly narrower than before. Within about 2-3 weeks after the surgery you're back to doing all the things you love to do.
It's a bit of a no-brainer for those of you suffering from constant pain or infections!
First things first, call us and book in to see one of our podiatrists.......we can help you.
