INFORMATION ABOUT INGROWN TOENAILS
Onychocryptosis, commonly known as ingrown nails (unguis incarnatus), is a
common form of nail disease. It is a painful condition in which the nail grows
or cuts into one or both sides of the nail bed. While ingrown nails can occur in
both the nails of the hand and feet, they occur most commonly with toenails.
Cause
While many things can cause ingrown nails, the most common causes are improperly
fitted shoes and nails that are improperly trimmed. Shoes or stockings that are
too tight press on the sides of the nail, causing it to curl and dig into the
skin. Nails that are cut too short, rounded off at the tip, or are peeled off at
the edges versus being cut straight across are more likely to become ingrown as
well. Other causes include an abnormally shaped nail bed, trauma to the nail
plate or toe and other nail deformities. Proneness to nail deformities that
cause ingrown nails can also be genetic.
Symptoms
Symptoms of an ingrown nail include pain along the margins of the nail,
worsening of pain when wearing shoes or other tight articles, and sensitivity to
pressure of any kind, even that of light bedding. By the very nature of the
condition, ingrown nails become easily infected unless special care is taken to
treat the condition early on and keep the area as clean as possible. Signs of
infection include redness and swelling of the area around the nail, drainage of
pus and/or a watery discharge tinged with blood.
Treatment
Treatment of ingrown nails ranges from soaking the afflicted area to surgery. In
mild cases, doctors recommend daily soaking of the foot or hand in a mixture of
warm water and Epsom salts and applying over-the-counter antibiotics while
allowing the nail to grow out so it may be trimmed properly. Another remedy is
to file the top of the nail flat. This will cause the nail to contract and pull
the ingrown sides up. Infection may be somewhat difficult to prevent in cleaning
and treating ingrown nails due to the warm, dark, and damp environment in
people's shoes. Peroxide is immediately effective to help clean minor infections
but iodine is more effective in the long term as it continues to prevent
bacterial growth even after it is dry. Iodine should not be used on deep wounds.
In such cases a physician or podiatrist should be consulted.
The source of this article is
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this
article is licensed under the
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