Ingrown toenails: causes, symptoms, treatment

When the edges of the nails grow into soft flesh, there is such a disease as ingrown toenails. As a result, swelling, redness, pain, and sometimes infection. Usually an ingrown nail appears on the big toe.

Causes and Symptoms

Common causes of the problem are as follows: wearing crushing shoes, cutting nails is too short, a leg injury. Ingrown toenails cause pain and sensitivity of the fingers near one or both edges of the nail. In addition, there may be redness and swelling, as well as infection of tissues. With severe discomfort and the presence of pus in the affected area, consult a doctor immediately.

Ingrown toenails, if left untreated, can cause infection and lead to severe bone infection. Complications risk being especially serious if you have diabetes, as the circulation of the legs may be impaired. Because of this, any relatively minor injuries - cuts, bone calluses, ingrown nails - do not heal and can lead to infection. Open wounds and ulcers may require surgical intervention to prevent gangrene - decay and tissue loss as a result of interruption of blood flow.

Diagnosis and treatment

The doctor usually diagnoses ingrown nails based on the described symptoms and physical examination of the problem area. You can treat ingrown nails at home using folk remedies, for example, making baths in warm water or applying a special cream with an antibiotic to the affected area. If the pain does not go away or there is redness and purulent discharge that spread to other areas of skin, consult a specialist. To treat ingrown toenails is possible by:

• Lifting the nail. If the nail is slightly grown in soft flesh, the doctor can place a cotton cloth, a tire or a waxed dental floss under the edge to protect the nail from contact with the skin. This allows him to grow over the covers and not grow into them.
• Partial removal of the nail. In more severe cases, the doctor may cut or remove part of the ingrown nail. Before the procedure, anesthesia can be used.
• Removal of the nail and nail bed. Chemical or laser treatment of ingrown nails consists in removing part of the nail along with a layer of connective tissue under the nail plate.

The doctor may also recommend using oral antibiotics to treat this ailment, especially if there is a risk of infection.

Home Treatment

• Keep your feet in warm water for fifteen minutes twice or thrice a day. This relieves swelling and reduces sensitivity.

• After each soaking in water, place a waxed dental floss or a piece of cotton under the ingrown nail. This will help the nail to rise above the skin level. Do the procedure daily until redness and pain subsided.
• Apply to the affected area ointment with antibiotic (which your doctor prescribed), and then make her bandage.
• Until the condition improves, wear shoes with an open nose.
• If the condition is accompanied by severe pain, take painkillers.