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Ingrown toenails

heroincredible

heroincredible

Jun 19, 2005
1,797
4
40
Calgary, AB, Canada
#1
Anyone know of a good way to rid oneself of them?(Even if it is temporarily). I have an ingrown toenail on my big toe on my right foot, and it is really really painful. Its not bad on one side, but the other side is swollen, red, and oozes from time to time. It is constantly hurting now and touching it slightly causes some of the worst pain I've ever felt.

Any help appreciated.
 
#2
Up until a month ago I had one that lasted about a year. At it's worst, it was a reddish-purple color and swollen quite a bit. Every morning when I woke up, I would have to go to the bathroom and get a piece of toilet paper, apply pressure on the sides, pus and blood would ooze out and I would have to wipe it up. When I got home later in the day I would take my shoe off and there would be a spot about an inch in diameter of blood.

I always tried to fix it with my knife, which is how I tend to others. This one was just abnormally stubborn. I eventually got it though.
 
#3
You can do it yourself. You need to get at the part of the nail that is digging into your flesh. Use any suitable, sterile object. But before you go in there, soak your foot in hot soapy water first to soften your piggies up.

Prying at it may "hurt a bit", but it is an excellent way to build fortitude.
 
#4
syciprider said:
You can do it yourself. You need to get at the part of the nail that is digging into your flesh. Use any suitable, sterile object. But before you go in there, soak your foot in hot soapy water first to soften your piggies up.

Prying at it may "hurt a bit", but it is an excellent way to build fortitude.
Click to expand...

I shall try the soaking it in water. Whenever I notice I start to get an ingrown toenail, I usually do pry it up and it doesn't hurt all that much. But what happened this time is the nail went a bit deeper and when I tried to pry it up the part of the nail that wasn't bothering me ripped off, so now I have a piece of toenail stuck in a large amount of swollen flesh, which makes trying to pry the nail up that much harder.
 
#5
Mine started with the big toes, but then moved on to the other 8. I just went to see a foot doctor who fixed it all for me. Of course, I waited about 9 months in pain before I got the courage to go to the doctor. But it was so much better after I did, I would definitely see one if it keeps on bothering you. From my understanding, it never really goes away unless you burn the flesh where part of the ingrown toenail was growing. I know that when the doctor worked on my feet he used some kind of acid to assure that it would never happen again.
 
#7
I hate them. I always have them. What I usually do is soak my foot in soapy water to soften them, and then I use a ingrown toenail clipper that I bought. And I start digging for them. I am contemplating going to the doctor about them cause they hurt so bad.
 
#8
Keep an eye on the infection- if it gets nasty- see a doctor. My almost father in law lost one of his toes due to an ingrown toenail infection.

I get them in both my big toes- I've been told by podiatrist nurses to cut the nail as straight as possible.

syciprider said:
Prying at it may "hurt a bit", but it is an excellent way to build fortitude.
Click to expand...
Pain is just weakness leaving your body.
 
#9
You're supposed to let the nails grow until they're over the parts where they start to grow in, and cut them straight (unlike your fingernails).

I pick at them myself, but you better make sure you get all of the nail out of there, if a little bit is left in there and that starts to infect it gets really painful and ugly.
 
#11
JDT said:
You're supposed to let the nails grow until they're over the parts where they start to grow in, and cut them straight (unlike your fingernails).
Click to expand...
That's what alleviated mine. I used to cut the ingrown part, and in time it grew back worse until I had these spears at the corners of the nail growing down. When I let the suckers grow out, they finally stopped growing down. They curl around a bit, but I haven't had a bleed in 30 years.
 
#12
heroincredible said:
Anyone know of a good way to rid oneself of them?(Even if it is temporarily). I have an ingrown toenail on my big toe on my right foot, and it is really really painful. Its not bad on one side, but the other side is swollen, red, and oozes from time to time. It is constantly hurting now and touching it slightly causes some of the worst pain I've ever felt.

Any help appreciated.
Click to expand...

I suffered with these for many years and the "Do It Yourself " solutions only cause them to recur and often get worse...:hmm:

After many years of being told by my doctor that the hospital waiting list was 4 years, I bit the bullet and went to a private Chriropodist/Podiatrist and paid about £120 per toe, to have them done!! Professionally!!

That was about 5 or 6 years ago now and it was worth every penny - not a hint of pain since - whereas before I was struggling even to drive, because of the pain.

I don't know why it took me so long to get round to doing this though...:hmm:
 
#13
OK guys: Disclaimer: Anything I'm about to type here is strictly general advise. It may not be the best advise for you and your specific situation. If your ingrown toenail lasts more than 2-3 days, see your podiatrist.

In order to prevent the most common cause of ingrown toenails, cut the nail straight across. If you have an ingrown toe nail, you can soak it in warm water (not hot), some white distilled vinegar and table salt for 5- 10 minutes (not 30-40 minutes). Put some neosporin, bacitracin, polysporin or triple antibiotic ointment on it with a bandaid. Do both of these things twice a day. If it's not gone in 2-3 days GO TO YOUR PODIATRIST!

A little story about having a procedure done: My fiance had one. She let it go until 2 days before our wedding. I had to do a nail procedure on it two days before our wedding. She was in agony before letting me do it. After I did it, she was in such relief, she still married me and had no pain on our wedding day. She also danced any dance she wanted. Instead of doing the soaks I usually prescribe, she soaked it in the Atlantic Ocean in St. Thomas for the next week.

I get complete strangers coming up to me at the local mall thanking me for taking care of their wife's, husband's, son's, daughter's ingrown toe nail. It's a benign procedure, and it gets rid of the pain. If it's badly infected, the podiatrist may not want to do a permanent procedure due to the risk of infecting the bone under the nail. In that case, it can be done temporarily, but about 50% come back ingrown in about 6 months. The permanent procedure rarely comes back.

If you let them go for long periods of time (that is a reletive statement), the bone can get infected under the nail. You don't want that. It means surgery to remove the infected part of the bone and possibly 6 weeks of IV antibiotics. It's rare, but I've had to take care for that. If you have diabetes or other medical concerns, don't wait 2- 3 days. Call your podiatrist now!

I can make recommendations for podiatrists in NY (NYC, Long Island, parts of upstate, Albany, Rochester), FL, Nashville, Memphis, Houston, LA and Atlanta. Those are the places I personally know podiatrists that I can think of right now.
 
#15
Bassmanbob said:
OK guys: Disclaimer: Anything I'm about to type here is strictly general advise. It may not be the best advise for you and your specific situation. If your ingrown toenail lasts more than 2-3 days, see your podiatrist.

In order to prevent the most common cause of ingrown toenails, cut the nail straight across. If you have an ingrown toe nail, you can soak it in warm water (not hot), some white distilled vinegar and table salt for 5- 10 minutes (not 30-40 minutes). Put some neosporin, bacitracin, polysporin or triple antibiotic ointment on it with a bandaid. Do both of these things twice a day. If it's not gone in 2-3 days GO TO YOUR PODIATRIST!

A little story about having a procedure done: My fiance had one. She let it go until 2 days before our wedding. I had to do a nail procedure on it two days before our wedding. She was in agony before letting me do it. After I did it, she was in such relief, she still married me and had no pain on our wedding day. She also danced any dance she wanted. Instead of doing the soaks I usually prescribe, she soaked it in the Atlantic Ocean in St. Thomas for the next week.

I get complete strangers coming up to me at the local mall thanking me for taking care of their wife's, husband's, son's, daughter's ingrown toe nail. It's a benign procedure, and it gets rid of the pain. If it's badly infected, the podiatrist may not want to do a permanent procedure due to the risk of infecting the bone under the nail. In that case, it can be done temporarily, but about 50% come back ingrown in about 6 months. The permanent procedure rarely comes back.

If you let them go for long periods of time (that is a reletive statement), the bone can get infected under the nail. You don't want that. It means surgery to remove the infected part of the bone and possibly 6 weeks of IV antibiotics. It's rare, but I've had to take care for that. If you have diabetes or other medical concerns, don't wait 2- 3 days. Call your podiatrist now!

I can make recommendations for podiatrists in NY (NYC, Long Island, parts of upstate, Albany, Rochester), FL, Nashville, Memphis, Houston, LA and Atlanta. Those are the places I personally know podiatrists that I can think of right now.
Click to expand...


Thank you for the advice. I'm going to try that out and hopefully it goes away. And I will make sure I do go to the podiatrist if it still hurts.
 
#16
eh.. those things.. i had FIVE!! of them... not all at once thoug.. twice on my left big toe and 3 times on my right big toe..


oh man.. that last one was the worst.. usualy what they would do is pump the toe full of (whats that numbing liquid called? im thinking novacaine, but isnt that jsut for teeth) and cute half of the toe nail off.. i dont mean across the toe.. i mean straight down the toe... the last time was the worst....on the right big toe.. i had one on both sides of the toe nail... so they cut off the entire tow nail.. (ouch) my toe was like a mummie zombie lol
 
#17
beyondhairy said:
eh.. those things.. i had FIVE!! of them... not all at once thoug.. twice on my left big toe and 3 times on my right big toe..


oh man.. that last one was the worst.. usualy what they would do is pump the toe full of (whats that numbing liquid called? im thinking novacaine, but isnt that jsut for teeth) and cute half of the toe nail off.. i dont mean across the toe.. i mean straight down the toe... the last time was the worst....on the right big toe.. i had one on both sides of the toe nail... so they cut off the entire tow nail.. (ouch) my toe was like a mummie zombie lol
Click to expand...
You made it sound more gross than it probably was. Besides, it took the pain away, didn't it?
 
#18
Bassmanbob said:
You made it sound more gross than it probably was. Besides, it took the pain away, didn't it?
Click to expand...

it was pretty bad :p when u think u know to expect after 4 of them then they hit u with that last one and toke off the entire toe nail.. the first few days were horrible.. cuz i had to soak it in epson salt water and the bandage was stuck to my toe so i had to do one of those "1-2-3, braise my self and pull" things to get it off and it made me shed a tear or two (i was 13) yea.. it was bad :p i still take little to no care of my feet but havent had a problem since..
 
#19
ive had a few. over here you can have them cut out by a local GP. All it is, is a shot of anesthetic on each side of my toe (big toe everytime), then they cut the side of ur toe in 2 places so that they can pull away the flap area, cut the toe nail, then stitch you up. I had that done 3 times, the third time my toe had built up a resistance to the anesthetic and he cut me toe open and i felt it. it was horrible, he the proceeded to give me more shots inside the cut. It hurt. The first 2 times it was cool coz i watched it, but didnt feel anything, it was weird.

I know there is an operation that you can have done to make sure they dont grow back, as even going to the doctor they can come back. The list was too long and i got pissed off and just hacked at it. Now the way my toe nail grows down the side, is like it is at the end (how it goes white and you can cut it off). So i can just cut down the side to stop it from growing back like any person would trim their nails :)
 
#20
Bassmanbob said:
OK guys: Disclaimer: Anything I'm about to type here is strictly general advise. It may not be the best advise for you and your specific situation. If your ingrown toenail lasts more than 2-3 days, see your podiatrist.

In order to prevent the most common cause of ingrown toenails, cut the nail straight across...
Click to expand...
I just wanted to say that I had problems with ingrowns ALL MY LIFE - until I read this thread way-back in '05. I've never had a problem since.

Thanks much, Bassmanbob!

Joe
 

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