Ingrown Toenails

Background

A ingrown toenail is a sometimes painful condition in which the nail grows so that it cuts into one or both sides of the nail-bed skin. If it progresses to being red, inflamed or infected, it’s time to consider seeing a podiatrist.

Typical causes of this include wearing shoes with inadequate toe room or wearing overly-tight stockings.

The key to managing an ingrown toenail is knowing how to trim the nail so that it doesn’t dig back into the skin when it grows back. People mistakenly try to cut back the nail edge where it is growing into the skin. It seems to help when you first do it, but when the nail grows back, it grows right back into the skin edge. The right approach is once you’ve released the nail edge that is digging into the skin, trim the nail straight across the top above the skin edge so it can’t grow back into the skin.

Treatments

You can often treat ingrown toenails with home remedies, but if pain continues or there is pus or redness that seems to be spreading, you should see your doctor.

The difficulty with managing an ingrown toenail is knowing how to trim the nail so that it doesn’t dig back into the skin when it grows back. People mistakenly try to cut back the nail edge where it is growing into the skin. It seems to help when you first do it, but when the nail grows back, it grows right back into the skin edge. The right approach is to trim the nail straight across the top above the skin edge so it can’t grow into the skin.

How to Trim an Ingrown Toenail

1) Soak your foot

First soak your foot in warm sudsy water for 15-20 minutes to soften the nail.

2) Free the nail, don’t cut it yet

Instead of cutting down into the nail, the goal is to gently free the nail edge from under the skin (instead of cutting it out).

3) Wedge it free until it’s grown past the skin

Put a bit of cotton or even dental floss under the nail edge to lift if above the skin edge. Change the cotton every day or two. Keep this cotton wedge under the nail edge until the nail edge has grown past your skin.

4) After it’s grown out, trim it in a straight line

After the nail has grown out a bit, trim the nail edge across the top above the skin edge in a straight line. Do not trim the edge in a curve. This will prevent the nail from growing into the skin again. And voila — no more ingrown toenail!  In the future, always remember to cut the toenails of your big toes straight across, rather than trimming the edges and rounding them off.  Let the nail grow out far enough to be level with the edge of the toe. And never, ever cut your nail edges below the skin line again.