INGROWING TOE NAIL

INGROWING TOENAIL

An in grown toe nail is curved on either of the edges/borders and pierces the surrounding skin. The in-growing nail usually irritates the skin due to continuous pressure and often results in pain, redness, swelling and inflammation over the surrounding healthy tissue. If left unattended it has a potential of developing infection.

Causes:

 Skin and Nail Conditions: Few percentage of population has a natural tendency to attain skin infection which recurs even after treatment. Overtime these infections start affecting the nail which starts to grow abnormally.

     

Improper type and size of footwear:
The most common notion we follow while buying any footwear
in comfort, a factor which is highly subjective and hence land
up buying incorrect type of footwear. There are two impor-
tant factors which should be considered while buying foot-
wear—Foot length and Width. Mostly people tend to
buy shoes which are too short, tapering from front or ill fitting.

     

Faulty Foot Alignment: Faulty foot alignment like flat feet, week transverse arch & high arch can lead to excessive fore foot pressure which can results in ingrowing toenail.

Trauma: Occasionally in-growing results due to any injury/trauma to the nail such as an object falling over the toe, stubbing of toe or being involved in repeated activity which puts an impact on the toes such as running or kicking.

        

     

Inappropriate trimming: The most common cause of in-growing is incorrect trimming of toe nail. Some people tend to cut their nail too shirt so that when it starts to grow it begins to pierce the surrounding skin.

           Treatment:

•  In case of infection, the most essential step is to control the ongoing infection. Once the infection is under control then further debridement of the in-growing can be carried out. It requires a team effort of a Dermatologist and Podiatrist.
• Using appropriately sized shoes is an important long term treatment plan. It is advisable to use correct offloading orthotic device to avoid recurrence of the situation.
• Proper and timely trimming of toe nail is another important management aspect. The correct method is to trim the nail in a straight and clean cut. Avoid curving on the edges as it invariably results in in-growing.

Success Stories of Ingrowing toe nail