Ingrowing toe nails

[pinkiefriend]

I have a slight ingrowing toe nail on both big toes, it's not too bad but would love to know how to prevent it from getting worse as i'm only young and would hate to have bad feet when i get older. I don't really like feet anyway, but want a nice set. Any hints and advice on how to keep your feet looking good would be greatly appreciated! Especially with the prevention of ingrowing toe nails.
Thanks in advance ;o)

[Lonnie]

Hi pinkie, the first thing you have to do, is to go to a Chiropodist, if you leave them, they'll get really painful and possibly infected, if that happens, the nails will have to come out, which happened to mw when I was about 15, i'm 56 now,and never had a recurrence. Good luck.

[druiaghtagh]

Hi pinkiefriend, i have had this problem myself several times and just recently. You must as Lonnie says, visit a chiropodist, if it gets worse a podiatrist. The main thing to do in future when cutting nails is to make sure you cut them STRAIGHT cross and not to short especially at corners.

[gessoo]

Tip from my GP, which works very well.

Take a tiny piece of cotton wool, and with an orange stick poke the cotton wool under the offending corner of the toenail which ingrows, which pushes the nail out. This encourages the nail to grow properly as well as keeping it from ingrowing.

I promise, it really works! I have had all sorts of things done by chiropodists over the years and wish I had known about the cotton wool thing before - it was the only thing that did work for me and my son.

[gessoo]

ps You do have to really press the cotton wool down a fair way so the cotton wool compacts., which can be a little sore. The cotton wool will usually stay there indefinitely, even with showering and bathing, but it is probably better to change it every few days.

[fideldyfee]

If it gets infected i.e swells up and contains puss, you must go to your G.P. Mine always gave me tablets which i think were maybe antibiotics, rather than arrange to get the nail removed and the tablets always worked. so if it does get so bad thats its infected and the doc says to get it ripped off, ask him nicely if you can try antibiotics first! Also, prevention wise, dont pick about with your toe nails, just clip them straight across the top and let them do their own thing.

[gessoo]

Yes, I agree you must go to the GP's if it is infected. The cotton wool thing can then be used to keep in from recurring. Sorry, I should have thought of that.

[spaced]

i had both side of my nail on my right foot removed last year. Its the best thing to get rid of it. It gets worse, trust me, I used to have to walk around the office in flip flops coz of the pain. I was on a packet of antibiotics every 2 weeks to ge the inflamation and infection down but it stopped working. Go to GP, get referred to chirpodist. Operation takes an hour and a bit, apart from the injections it is painless, and I didnt feel any pain after the injection wore off. quite gory to watch though!

[les saisies]

I suffer myself and nothing to add really.

Isee a Chiropodist regularly and she packs cotton wool under the nails of my big toes and cuts the others straight. Not painful and does work.

My teenage son had the "op" on one of his big toes in the Autumn because he was having persistant infections and it has been a great success.

Don't be scared. It sounds far worse than it is.

[Philtaz]

If you continue to suffer I would ask your GP to refer you to a general surgeon at your local hospital.

A Zadek procedure is the removal of the nail as well as the nail bed, preventing the nail from growing again. It is a very common procedure and in most cases is performed under local anaesthetic.