INGROWN TOENAILS? 3 TOP TIPS for YOUR RELIEF
Lets face it, ingrown toenails can be nasty and pesky. They are surprisingly common and regularly mismanaged. Unfortunately its not just okay to leave an ingrown toenail for a long period of time even if it is not sore. You can get some very nasty complications like bone or blood infections which are more serious. The great news is that simple effective solutions are available.
So why do you have an ingrown toenail?
Tight shoes, sweaty feet, cutting down the sides and curved nail plates are common causes. Having your foot trodden on the footy field or bad dancing technique will leave you in this touchy situation. So here are our recommendations from podiatrists who deal with ingrown toenails on a daily basis.
Our 3 Hot Tips:
1/ Bathroom surgery is definitely not the answer! Resist cutting the nails down the sides, while you think that you are getting the nail you are likely making the problem worse and creating an even deeper spike!
2/Antibiotics are not always your solution. Antibiotics are not generally an effective treatment on their own. Whenever there is nail penetrating into the skin you will have a situation where the nail needs to be cleared. This is often not a big deal when carried out by someone with expertise in this area. If the nail is not cleared an ingrown toenail will tend to flare up again and again after each round of antibiotics as the nail is still causing trouble. See a podiatrist who has skills in this area to find your long term solution.
3/ In the few days leading up to seeing us keep the area clean. And by clean we don’t mean blasting your toe with a barrage of household chemicals and disinfectants. So, please avoid bleach, metho dettol or the like. What we do recommend is bathing your toe in warm slightly salty water for 1-2 minutes a day. Soaking until your foot looks like an oversized prune is also not required. You can apply some betadine to the area however please know that this will NOT remove any infection as commonly thought. Repeat this daily while you are waiting to see us. Dry around the sore area with a sterile cloth (not on it ) and apply a clean dressing after this daily process.
Our additional tip: Get your ingrown toenail treated early and NOW. The earlier we see you the better for you and your toe. Our podiatrists all have expertise in finding effective permanent solutions for your problem even when it has been hanging around for way too long! If you have any discomfort we can numb your toe. Only the most effective treatments are used which involve as little fuss as possible.
Find our more about ingrown toenails here
Find out more about permanent solutions for ingrown toenails here.
If you have an ingrown toenail and it is time to get it sorted contact us today!