Ingrown Nails
Ingrown toenails happen when the outer corner of the toenail, usually on the big toe, cuts into the skin as it grows.
An ingrown toenail is one of the most painful conditions we see in our office.
Luckily, it's also one of the easiest to fix!
If your ingrown nail is infected, we want to see you the same day to prevent further damage. Call us about urgent care scheduling, or visit our walk in clinic.
Causes
Ingrown toenails happen when the outer corner of the toenail, usually on the big toe, cuts into the skin as it grows. We see them commonly form as a result of tight shoes, or trauma to the area.
Ouch! Take my word for it and don't try to remove them at home, kids. If you do, you increase your risk of infection. When untreated, the toe will become inflamed, hurt really bad, turn red and hot, and you may experience discharge.
Ingrown toenails can quickly become serious, so don't wait!
Treatment
Because of that intense pain, we get patients with ingrown toenails in for an appointment right away. When you come in, we’ll first numb your toe before we do anything.
Don’t worry, we even numb your toe with a cooling spray before we use any needles for the anesthetic, so you won’t feel a thing. In fact, you’ll be relieved when the pain from your ingrown toenail magically disappears.
Then we gently trim the nail so it stops cutting into your toe. Things usually heal up quickly after that.
In some persistent cases, we might even trim it down to the cuticle, but you won’t be able to tell because it will be hidden by the flesh that covers the side of the toenail.
Prevention
To avoid getting another ingrown toenail down the road, it's important to avoid wearing tight shoes that push the toes together, trimming your toenails on a curve, and keeping toenails too short.
If you have diabetes, circulation problems or are on chemotherapy and get an ingrown toenail, call our office right away.
These can interfere with your body's ability to heal itself, and we need to take care of it before your toe becomes infected.