Ingrown toenail also known as Onychocryptosis is a condition that most commonly affects young people. There are many causative factors such as mechanical damage, improper nail trimming, hereditary, involuted nails, and fan nails to name a few.
Whatever the cause, this condition can cause extreme pain as there are lots of sensory nerves around the toes.
An ingrown toenail is where your nail plate grows into the skin surrounding your toe. The skin recognises the nail as a foreign body thus, initiating an inflammatory response.
The toe will become red, swollen, and painful if left untreated the toe can become infected.
There are several management options depending on the underlying cause:
- Removing a spicule from the nail fold.
- Packing the nail fold.
- Regular nail maintenance from your Podiatrist.
- Nail surgery.
We are sharing our patient Darren’s story with his kind permission.
Darren had trouble with ingrown nails for many years. He presented to clinic for the first time after having several treatments including three nail surgeries without success.
He had a red, swollen, painful toe with hyper-granulation tissue around the lateral nail fold. On examination, the nail fold appeared clear although the lateral apex of the toe did not look ‘normal’.
After further examination, nail was found growing out of the skin on the lateral apex of the toe. We booked Darren in for nail surgery the following week. During surgery we found three separate nail spikes growing deep in the nail fold.
We’re so pleased that Darren is now stress and pain-free.
At Feet First the technique we use for nail surgery has a 95% success rate. If you need help, please book an appointment! Do not suffer needlessly.
