Symptoms and treatment of Ingrown nails

Ingrown nails

Description

Ingrown toenails are a common condition in which the corner or side of a toenail grows into the soft flesh. The result is pain, swelling of the skin, swelling and, sometimes, an infection. Ingrown toenails usually affect the big toe.

Often, you can take care of ingrown toenails on your own. If the pain is severe or spreading, your health care provider can take steps to relieve your discomfort and help you avoid complications of ingrown toenails.

If you have diabetes or another condition that causes poor blood flow to your feet, you are at greater risk of complications of ingrown toenails.

Symptoms

Ingrown toenail symptoms include:

The pain and tenderness
Inflammation of the skin
Swelling
Infection

When to see a doctor

Check with your medical care provider if you:

The experience severe discomfort in your toe, pus, or swelling of the skin that seems to be spreading
You have diabetes or another condition that causes poor blood flow to the feet and has a foot pain or infection

Causes

Causes of ingrown toenails include:

Wearing shoes that squeeze the nails of the feet
Cutting the toenails too short or not straight across
Injuring a toenail
Have very curved toenails
Infections of the nails
Certain medical conditions

Risk factors

Factors that increase the risk of ingrown nails include:

As a teenager, when feet tend to sweat more, which softens the nails and skin
Taking care of the nails of the habits that encourage the nail to grow in the skin, such as cutting nails too short or rounding the corners
Have a reduced ability to care for your nails
The use of shoes that constrict the toes of the feet
Participate in activities, such as running and kicking, you put your fingers at risk of injury
To have a disease, such as diabetes, that causes poor circulation of the blood

Complications

The complications can be spicelly serious if you have diabetes, which can cause poor circulation of the blood and the damaged nerves in your feet. So a minor foot injury — a cut, scrape, corn, calluses or ingrown toenails — you can't heal properly and get infected.

Prevention

To help prevent ingrown toenail:

Trim your toenails straight across. Do not bend your nails to match the shape of the front of your foot. If you are receiving a pedicure, ask the person doing it to trim the nails straight. If you have a condition that causes poor blood flow to the feet and you can't trim your nails, see a podiatrist regularly to have the nails trimmed.
Keep toenails at a moderate length. Clipping the nails of the feet, so that even with the tips of the toes. If you trim your toenails too short, the pressure of his shoes thatit is possible to direct a nail grows into the tissue.
Wear shoes that fit properly. Shoes that put too much pressure on the toes of the feet, or a pinch of these can cause a nail to grow into the surrounding tissue. If you have nerve damage in your feet, you may not be able to feel if your shoes fit all too well.
Use protective footwear. If your activities put you at risk of injury in the fingers of the feet, use of protective footwear, such as steel-toed shoes.
Check your feet. If you have diabetes, check your feet daily for signs of ingrown toenails, or other foot problems.

Ingrown nails

Diagnosis

Your health care provider can diagnose an ingrown toenail on the basis of symptoms and a physical examination of the nail and the surrounding skin.

Treatment

If home remedies have not helpedr ingrown nail, your health care provider may recommend:

The lifting of the nail.For a bit of ingrown nail, your health care provider can carefully lift the ingrown edge of the toenail and the place of cotton, floss, or a splint below. This separates the nail from the surface layer of the skin and helps the nail grow above the skin edge, usually within 2 to 12 weeks. At home, you need to soak your feet and replace the material on a daily basis. Your health care provider may prescribe a steroid cream to apply after the dive. Ananother approach, which minimizes the need of journal of replacement, the uses of cotton coated with a solution that secures it in place and makes it water-resistant (collodion).
Recording of the nail. With this method, your health care provider pulls the skin away from the ingrown nail with tape.
The placement of a channel of the splint under the nail. With this method, the doctor will numb the toe and slides a small slit tube embedded underneath the nail. This splint is held in place until the nail has grown above the skin edge. This method helps to relieve the pain of an ingrown nail as well.
Partially removing the nail. For a more severe ingrown nail (inflammation of the skin, pain, and pus), your health care provider can numb the toe and trim or remove the ingrown portion of the nail. It could take 2 to 4 months for your nail to grow back.
The removal of the nail and the soft tissue. If you have the problem on several occasions on the same finger, your doctor may suggest removal of a portion of the nail along with the underlying tissue (nail bed). This procedure can avoid the part of the nail to regrow. Your health care provider will numb the toe, and the use of a chemical, laser, or other methods.

The lifting of the nail. For a bit of ingrown nail, your health care provider can carefully lift the ingrown edge of the toenail of and instead of cotton, floss, or a splint below. This separates the nail from the superficial layer of the skin and helps the nail grow above the skin edge, usually within 2 to 12 weeks. At home, you need to soak your feet and replace the material on a daily basis. Your health care provider may prescribe a steroid cream to apply after the dive.

Another approach, which minimizes the need of journal of replacement, the uses of cotton coated with a solution that secures it in place and makes it water-resistant (collodion).

After a nail-removal procedure, you can take a pain reliever as needed. Could you help to apply a compress wet for a couple of minutes to a couple of days, until the swelling has gone down. And the rest and elevate your feet for 12 to 24 hours. The resume move, avoid activities that hurt your finger, and do not swim or use a hot tub until your doctor says it is okay to do so. It is well the shower the day after surgery. Call your health care provider if the finger is not the cure.

Sometimes, even with the success of the surgery, the problem occurs again. The surgical approaches are better in the prevention of the recurrence of which are non-surgical methods.

Self-care

You can treat the majority of ingrown toenails at home. Here's how:

Soak your feet in warm water with soap. Do this for 10 to 20 minutes, 3 to 4 times a day up to which the finger of improvement.
Place cotton or dental floss under your toenail. After each soaking, put fresh pieces of cotton or waxed dental floss under the ingrown edge. This will help the nail grow above the skin edge.
Apply petroleum jelly. Put Vaseline on the bid area and the bandage of the head.
Choose sensible footwear. Consider the use of open-toed shoes or sandals until the finger is feeling better.
Take pain relievers. A nonprescription pain reliever such as acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) may help relieve foot pain.

Preparing for your appointment

Your primary care physician or a foot doctor (podiatrist) can diagnose an ingrown toenail. Prepare a list of searchions to make during your appointment. Some basic questions include:

Is my condition temporary or long-term (chronic)?
What are my treatment options and the pros and cons of each one?
What results can I expect?
Can't wait to see if the condition does not go away on its own?
What nail care routine do you recommend, while my finger is healing?

Your health care provider will likely ask questions such as:

When did you begin experiencing symptoms?
Do you have the symptoms all the time?
What at-home treatments have you used?
Whatyou have diabetes or another condition that causes poor blood circulation in the legs or feet?