Ingrown toenail
The ingrown toenail is formed by the entry of a piece of nail into the skin, which causes pain and inflammation.
It is a fairly common condition that usually occurs on the inner edge of the nail of the first toe, although it can also affect all toes; it is often bilateral.
There are two types, anterior and lateral depending on where the nail is ingrown.
The most frequent causes of ingrown toenails are the following:
1- Inadequate footwear, too narrow, which produces repetitive microtraumatisms.
2- Nail morphology (nail hypercurvature, congenital dystrophy, hallux valgus or bunions as well as hammertoes or claw toes).
3- Arthrosis.
4- Defects in the pedicure by badly cutting the lateral edges.
5- Trauma to the nail.
6- Onychomycosis or fungal infection.
Patients with ingrown toenail usually complain of swelling and redness of the lateral border of the nail body and periungual tissues.
They also report pain on palpation, with sports or with tight shoes.
Finally, the ingrown toenail causes an abscess with infection in the nail.
Diagnosis and treatment should be performed by a podiatric professional.
Ingrown toenail treatment
Initially, preventive treatment focuses on cutting straight and smoothing the nails regularly, avoiding stockings and tight shoes, and finally applying topical antiseptics in the initial stages as well as salt water baths.
Once the preventive treatment has not been effective, a nail reconstruction surgery should be performed to solve the problem definitively.
It is recommended that this surgery be performed by experienced professionals because if it is not performed correctly, it often leads to recurrence of the problem.
The medical and podiatric team of the San Roman Clinic has more than 25 years of experience performing reconstructive surgery of ingrown toenails.
