INGROWN TOENAILS: SYMPTOMS, HOME CARE, PRECAUTIONS AND TREATMENT
Signs and symptoms
The toe becomes red, painful, and tender to the touch. The wound produces a thin, watery pus that works its way under the nail. The tenderness, redness, pain, and swelling gradually get worse, eventually involving one entire side of a toenail. Often the nail becomes partly covered by raw, red tissue and a wet crust.
Home care
If you catch it early, you can treat an ingrown toenail successfully by gently cutting out the spur or the ingrown corner of the nail, and then frequently soaking the toe in warm water for long periods. Even if the toe is so tender to the touch that you cannot remove the embedded nail, prolonged soaking in a strong Epsom salts solution (one cup to one liter of water) may cure the condition. Cover the lower foot and toe with a bandage or cloth and soak both foot and bandage thoroughly in the solution. Then cover the dripping foot with plastic wrap or encase the foot in a plastic bag. In this manner the nail can soak for hours with little effort on your part. Because of the delicacy of the nails involved, the ingrown toenail of an infant can often be cured by wiping the area several times a day with rubbing alcohol, and then soaking the toe in clear warm water.
Precautions
• Teach your child to trim the toenails straight across without leaving sharp spurs that may cause problems.
• An infection near the nail that lasts for more than a few days is probably an ingrown nail.
Medical treatment
If an ingrown toenail doesn’t clear up with home treatment, your doctor can remove the embedded piece of nail. If the toe is very painful, the doctor may apply a local anesthetic before removing the ingrown area of the nail. If ingrown toenails occur frequently your doctor may suggest minor surgery to narrow the nail and make in-growing less likely.
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