The symptoms
Pain, redness, inflammation, swelling and sometimes pus, can be found at either or both sides of the affected nail(s). The symptoms can usually be found at the tip end of the toe but can extend along the full length of the nail. It can be so painful that it makes wearing closed toed shoes impossible.
Typical causes
Typical causes of an ingrown toenail (onychocryptosis) are incorrect nail cutting, narrow-toed footwear; which pushes the skin at the edge of the toe hard against the toenail, trauma; which could be a single incident like dropping a brick on your toe, or repeated trauma such as kicking a football. It can even in some circumstances occur spontaneously due to no fault of your own. Your toenail shape might be excessively curved at the sides which leads to you being predisposed to this painful condition.
Types of treatment available
1. Early Professional Treatment.
If you seek attention for your ingrown toenail immediately when it occurs, often a podiatrist can alleviate this problem straight away. If left too long this may not be possible and ingrown toenail surgery will be the only treatment option.
2. Nail Surgery for Ingrown Toenails.
When your ingrown toenail is too painful or has gone beyond the early professional treatment stage, nail surgery will be needed to “fix” your toe. This is performed in the surgery using a local anaesthetic, very similar to that used by dentists. Once your toe is anaesthetised we can perform the procedure necessary to solve your ingrown toenail problem. This procedure is completely painless.
