An ingrown toenail is painful and very annoying. With these solutions you can prevent an ingrown toenail or you can solve the problem yourself.
With an incipient or imminent ingrown toenail, it may help to raise the tip of your nail slightly. This prevents it from growing in further and the nail will grow over the nail bed again.
Read also: “Tips against discolored nails”
Your chiropodist, podiatrist or general practitioner can help you with this. By means of a cotton ball, a small bracket or a rubber gutter, it raises your nail slightly. When the nail has become long enough, you can remove the tool again.
With an ingrown toenail, the tip of your nail grows into the nail bed. This creates a wound that eventually ignites. Your toe will become red and sore, and wild flesh with pus may form. At that stage you can usually hardly stand on your foot. Tight shoes, clipped nails and excessive sweating can be the cause.
Do not pick at your toenails if they are too long, but always cut them with nail scissors. Make sure to cut them straight, so they can grow in the right direction. Throw away tight shoes and wear cotton or wool socks to reduce sweaty feet. While exercising, you could wear toenail protectors to prevent your toes from hitting the nose of your shoe.
Is the pain getting worse and your toe getting redder and thicker? Then there is a good chance that the inflammation in your toe has become worse. Antibiotics can help, but you can also soak your feet first.
Soak your feet in a soda bath for about twenty minutes every day. Please note:soaking in soda can only reduce the inflammation and pain, it does not heal the ingrown toenail. So always visit your doctor to have the nail treated.
If the nail has grown in further and you are experiencing a lot of pain, the doctor may decide to cut off a piece of your nail.
There are two ways to treat an overgrown toenail:wedge excision (cutting a triangle off your nail and nail bed) and partial nail extraction (cutting or cutting a lengthy strip of your toenail). This last treatment often also uses phenol, a liquid that prevents your nail from growing any further.
Source:Santé January 2019 Text:Mara Ruijter
