Ingrown nails – causes, symptoms, treatment, home remedies [EXPLAINED]

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Ingrown nails are a condition where the nail plate grows into the skin next to it – most often it affects the nails of the toes. This causes pain, inflammation, painful infusion and abscesses. The most common cause of ingrown toenails is improperly trimmed nail plate. What to do with an ingrown toenail? What treatment should be implemented and what is the prevention?

Over time, we may feel pain that prevents and accompanies us from walking inflammation and abscesses. Quick response helps to avoid surgical correction, so it’s important to know how to prevent ingrown toenails. Ingrown toenails may also appear.

The causes of ingrown toenails

Certain inborn tendencies may be the cause of ingrown toenails. insult caused by inappropriate footwear (too tight, too loose, high-heeled) or improper nail clipping (excessive cutting of its side edges, cutting too short), and:

1. cut while cutting the cuticles,
2. cleaning dirt under the nails with sharp tools (e.g. scissors),
3. pinch or other damage to the nail,
4. tinea,
5. predisposition to ingrown nail,
6. long toes,
7. foot deformity,
8. tubular nails,
9. possession,
10. wide and downward bent nail plate,
11. hammer fingers,
12. posture defects,
13. flat feet,
14. abnormal gait motility.

Another often overlooked cause of ingrown toenails is genetic predispositions. If your family, especially your grandparents or parents struggled with this problem, it is very likely that you will also have a problem with ingrown toenails.

People who play sports, especially soccer, kickboxing, and ballet, are very prone to ingrown toenails. This is due to the fact that repeatedly kicking a ball or applying pressure to the feet for long periods of time can damage the nail and increase the risk of ingrown toenails.

Moreover, obese people and overweight people struggle with ingrown toenails more often than people with normal posture, this also applies to pregnant women who increase their body weight. It is influenced by the biomechanics of the foot – when there is a rapid weight gain, the nail shafts stick and press.

If you are struggling with flat feet, read how to get rid of it: Exercise on flat feet

Ingrown nail – symptoms

An ingrown nail is nothing more than sticking into the skin. We can feel pain while walking and even putting on shoes, during which the sticking of the nail is especially felt. In addition, it can occur redness and swelling on the sides of the nail, and sometimes even bleeding if the nail pierces the skin. In people who additionally get bacterial superinfection, discharge in the form of pus may appear. In each case, the ingrown toenail should be consulted with a podiatrist or podiatrist.

Also read: podiatry pedicure

Completely curing these infections is essential to maintaining the health of your nails and feet. If the infection is not treated, it can lead to serious consequences (chronic pain, deformity, cellulitis, and bone infection).

Ingrown toenail in a child

An ingrown toenail in children is a fairly common and painful problem. The ingrown nail in children is mainly caused by theirs bad clipping, initially by the parents themselves and then by the children. An ingrown toenail in an infant is just as common. Parents generally cut their babies’ fingernails “round” and very shortly so that they do not scratch or get caught on clothes. This clipping can lead to ingrowth as the skin around the nail fold overlaps where the nail should grow.

The best prevention of nail growth in children and infants is to cut their nails straight, along the natural edge of the nail. In older children, you should pay attention to appropriate footwear – it should not be tight in the toes. And in children who play sports, the footwear should be matched to the physical activity performed (football shoes, running shoes, ballet shoes). For infants, only infant nail clippers should be used. You must not use any nail softeners or cut the cuticles.

Ingrown nail – home remedies

Home remedies for an ingrown toenail can only be used when there is no inflammation in the area of ​​the nail. Home remedies in this case are based on the use of:

1. antibiotic ointments (a special ointment for the ingrown nail),
2. oil and essential oil compresses,
3. specially designed liquids for ingrown nails,
4. disinfecting compresses,
5. soak in apple cider vinegar – apple cider vinegar is a folk remedy for almost everything these days, including ingrown toenails. It is believed to have properties antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic. Prepare a bowl of warm water combined with 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. Soak the foot with the ingrown toenail for up to 20 minutes a day. After soaking, dry the foot thoroughly,
6. bath with salt – pour hot water into a bowl and a few tablespoons of salt (preferably sea salt), dissolving it. Soak the feet for about 15 minutes in the solution once a day,
7. water with soap flakes – pour hot water into the bowl and add soap flakes for washing or gray soap. The bath should last 15-20 minutes,
8. ice pack – put ice on your finger for a few minutes until it goes numb. Then we cut out the ingrown nail.

In the case of ingrown nails, we must not forget to care for the skin around the nail. For this purpose, order Bioherba Nail and Cuticle Oil available on Medonet Market.

Read about the properties and uses of sea salt: Sea salt – properties

If you want to know more about the podiatry – you can read here: Podiatry – who is he?

Ingrown nail – treatment

If home remedies have failed to deal with the ingrown toenail, you should see your doctor for treatment. The doctor may order:

Nail lift– if you have a slightly ingrown toenail (redness and pain, but no pus), your doctor may carefully pick up the ingrown toenail and place cotton, floss or splint underneath it. This separates the nail from the underlying skin and helps the nail to grow above the edge of the skin. For this, the doctor may apply tamponade.

It is the easiest method of correction and prevention of ingrown nails. Making a tamponade is simple and consists in placing a soft dressing material in the nail roll. It can be gauze or cotton wool rolls soaked in a disinfecting liquid. For this purpose, the following agents are used: ointments and lotions containing antibiotics, disinfectants, hydrogen peroxide or Octenisept. Thanks to the placement of the dressing, the space between the nail plate and the nail shaft is widened, which significantly reduces pain.

Where applicable dental floss a piece of dental floss 5-20 mm long, depending on the size of the nail plate, should be placed between the side shaft and the nail in exactly the same way as for a tamponade. This technique is easy to apply, especially for people with a small space between the plate and the nail shaft.

Tubes sulci-protektor, protective tubes which are an alternative to a tamponade. The tube is designed to protect the nail shaft against pressure from the nail and at the same time protects the space for the newly growing nail plate. These tubes are cut along their entire length, which allows them to be placed on the edge of the nail plate. To keep the tubes firmly attached, a nail reconstruction mass is used.

Clamps for ingrown nails (so-called orthonyxia) – their task is to restore the correct shape and direction of the nail ingrowth. Through the action of appropriate forces on the edges of the nail, it “pulls” the nail from the nail shaft, bringing immediate relief after its insertion. The following buckles are distinguished:

1. stick-on buckle – this buckle is glued to the nail plate, therefore its use is also possible in the case of thin and brittle nails. The force pulling the edges of the nail up can act on one or both sides, depending on the need,
2. surgical steel brace – the most effective method of treating ingrown toenails are procedures involving the application of a surgical steel brace. They are properly bent and can be adapted to any nail. Their use with tubular nails brings good results. The treatment is similar in its philosophy to orthodontic procedures, where the appropriate wire is placed on the teeth in order to properly position them in the dental arch.
3. plastic-wire buckle – there is a possibility to adjust the tension of the tension wire, it works mainly for children, due to the ease of its application (sticking) and the possibility of adjusting the pull-back force,
4. metal-plastic buckle – cut to the appropriate length and glued to the nail plate after the edges are blunted. It is used for nails of different thickness, size and width. Due to the metal insert, it has an enhanced retraction force.

Order the Correction Buckle for ingrown nails today, which you can buy at a favorable price on Medonet Market.

Partial removal of the nail — if you have a heavier ingrown toenail (redness, pain and pus), your doctor may trim or remove the ingrown part of the nail. Before this procedure, your doctor may numb your finger temporarily by injecting anesthesia into it.

Complete removal of nail and tissue – if the problem occurs repeatedly on the same finger, your doctor may recommend removing part of the nail along with the underlying tissue (nail bed). Then the finger remains without a nail until it grows back. This procedure can prevent the affected part of the nail from growing back.

In addition to the above methods, laser treatment can be used. They are performed only in some cases of ingrown nail, especially after improperly performed surgical procedures. CO2 and Nd: YAG lasers are the most commonly used. The advantage of laser therapy is the possibility of performing the procedure on an outpatient basis, as well as a low rate of recurrence of the disease.

Medonet Market offers Patches with an ingrown nail plate that can be used at home. A very convenient option is also buying a gel cover for ingrown nails, which not only helps to lift the nail, but also protects the tissue underneath it.

Ingrown nail – complications

An unhealed ingrown toenail, and especially the infection present there, can cause serious health consequences. Complications can be especially dangerous for people who are diabetic, as the disease itself causes poor blood flow and nerve damage in the feet.

The infection can go deeper soft tissue infections (cellulitis), which in turn can lead to bone infection (osteomyelitis). Complications can include scarring of the surrounding skin and the edge of the nails (overgrowth of the nail fold), as well as thickened, deformed (onychodystrophy) nails and onychomycosis. Sometimes an enlargement of soft tissue appears on the nail fold, which bleeds and drains easily.

Check where you can get infected with onychomycosis: Ringworm – where do I get infected?

1. if you have a hard nail and you cannot cut it, first soak it in water for several / several dozen minutes, or in a specially designed liquid,
2. to remove cuticles around nails, use preparations that soften them,
3. to remove dirt under the nails use a cotton swab moistened with alcohol, the tip of the scissors is not a suitable instrument for this operation,
4. change socks often,
5. the footwear was comfortable, not too tight, with wide toes.