I HATE ingrown toenails!!! :(

[brooklyngirl]

Ugh! I''ve been suffering from this for the past 10 years, and no matter what I do they keep coming back! I''ve had the procedure to remove the ingrown part twice over the years, and it still comes back. The first time, the treatment worked pretty well, and about 5 years later, it came back, and I had to have the treatment again. Well this time, I thin the treatment made it much worse, and the nail no grows in a lot deeper

Last night I got home, and noticed that my toe was infected, and the nail grew in very deep (I wasn''t able to get it out). Now I''m wondering what to do about it. I should probably have the treatment for it again, but my wedding is 1.5 months away, and I don''t know if my toe will heal by that time.

Does anyone else suffer from this? If so, any suggestions?

 

[nycbkgirl]

Yes I have a suggestion..I suggest since ur comin to town u have ur planner book an appointment to see the original doc u went to and have it treated again! Ur wedding will be fine with or w.o. Ur nail lol..u will not have open shoes so get over it. Nothing to do with ingrowns except have them treated sorry no cure. So let ur planner know in advance ;p

 

[Steel]

Sorry if this is TMI...

I feel your pain, really. Up to my early 20''s I had them ALL OF THE TIME on my big toes especially, and I wanted to sob

. I became a pain trooper and even bought my own scalpel set

to dig in & cut off the offending bit of nail when it dug in

.

I finally got rid of them by cutting the nail as far down as I could. Then I cut the sides of the nail as far down as I could on a slight angle away from the skin. I kept cutting the sides of the nail, for a few months as it grew, keeping the nail away (in a straight line, any jagged edges meant it would dig in and get ingrown) from the skin on the sides and then all at once it had sorted itself out.

I have had no probems every since

.

Now, I got used to the pain and was able to to this myself - am super flexible so I do recommend you let your doc help you out. But it is possible and you will be pain free - hopefully sooner rather than later.

Big hug!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

My son has this recurrent problem; and I sought advice from his Ped. over it. She perscribed Fucidin ungt. and we apply it daily.

1) Soak toe/foot in warm salty water
2) Dry thoroughly
3) Take a cotton ball, tear off app. 1 inch and make a thin roll/string of it and "grease" it with Fucidin. Now gently lift the offending toenail away from the bed, and apply the little cigar shaped greasy roll under the nail to keep it off the skin. Tuck the pieces in around the rest of the nail. Clean toemail with dry q-tip.

I did this daily for my son when he came home from school and within a few days the inflammation had subsided. I kept with this practice for several weeks, while the nail grew out and away from the corner and I have carefully trimmed the top straight across. The toenail shuould allign with the top of your toe.

I am happy to say his toenail is no longer an issue. Good luck!

cheers--Sharon

 

[oobiecoo]

I do pretty much what Steel said. I cut my toenails down as far as possible and away from the skin on the side. My nails are really short and the pedicure people always fuss at me for cutting my nails before I go in... but I don''t have ingrown toenails!

 

[Deelight]

Date: 11/22/2008 6:08:35 PM
Author: oobiecoo
I do pretty much what Steel said. I cut my toenails down as far as possible and away from the skin on the side. My nails are really short and the pedicure people always fuss at me for cutting my nails before I go in... but I don''t have ingrown toenails!

Ditto, ingrown toenails are a pain.

 

[oobiecoo]

I know people say to leave your toenail longer and cut it straight across the top... but that sounds like bull-honky to me. Whenever I left mine longer like that the edges would dig in.

 

[brooklyngirl]

Date: 11/22/2008 5:15:22 PM
Author: nycbkgirl
Yes I have a suggestion..I suggest since ur comin to town u have ur planner book an appointment to see the original doc u went to and have it treated again! Ur wedding will be fine with or w.o. Ur nail lol..u will not have open shoes so get over it. Nothing to do with ingrowns except have them treated sorry no cure. So let ur planner know in advance ;p

nycbk (a.k.a planner) -

What do you mean*without*?! It looks like that''s exaclty what I''ll have to do, as not a single doctor in San Jose works on the weekends! I guess you''ll have to call the doc and make my appointment. Make it as soon as possible, this is *not* pretty, seriously. See you Thursday!

Steel - That''s not TMI at all. That is exactly what I was doing before I wrote my original post, and it could be part of the reason that my nail has dug in as deep as it has. My problem used to be under control at one point. I went to a pedicure lady who was really good at cutting out the offending bit of nail for several years, but then she quit the beauty business to become a nurse. Since then, I couldn''t find anyone who could take care of my toes for me. I was really afraid to try at that point.

This may be TMI on my part, but since the last treatment, the part of the matrix that the doc burned off came back, but the nail did not fuse together, so it''s as if I have this other piece of nail that''s kind of spike shaped (that''s an awful description, I know). When I tried to get rid of it, I made it worse.

I know I am supposed to cut the nail, even after the matrix is burned off, but I''m afraid to

canuk-gal - That sounds like an awesome idea! I''m glad you got your son''s problem sorted out, because this is really painful. For me, I haven''t been able to get a pedicure in forever, because I''m afraid with this nail

. One question, though, what''s Fucidin? Is it OTC?

oobiecoo - I usually cut my nails before getting a pedicure (when my toe is healthy enough) just because I like them as short as possible. I think there is a lot of truth in what is the common wisdom about not current the edges of your toenail. My issues started when I decided my round shaped toenails would look better squared. I started cutting off the sides as far as I could, and after some time my nails became ingrown. I now kick myself -- not too hard, because my toes hurt.

 

[canuk-gal]

Date: 11/24/2008 2:26:05 AM
Author: brooklyngirl

Date: 11/22/2008 5:15:22 PM
Author: nycbkgirl
Yes I have a suggestion..I suggest since ur comin to town u have ur planner book an appointment to see the original doc u went to and have it treated again! Ur wedding will be fine with or w.o. Ur nail lol..u will not have open shoes so get over it. Nothing to do with ingrowns except have them treated sorry no cure. So let ur planner know in advance ;p

nycbk (a.k.a planner) -

What do you mean*without*?! It looks like that''s exaclty what I''ll have to do, as not a single doctor in San Jose works on the weekends! I guess you''ll have to call the doc and make my appointment. Make it as soon as possible, this is *not* pretty, seriously. See you Thursday!

Steel - That''s not TMI at all. That is exactly what I was doing before I wrote my original post, and it could be part of the reason that my nail has dug in as deep as it has. My problem used to be under control at one point. I went to a pedicure lady who was really good at cutting out the offending bit of nail for several years, but then she quit the beauty business to become a nurse. Since then, I couldn''t find anyone who could take care of my toes for me. I was really afraid to try at that point.

This may be TMI on my part, but since the last treatment, the part of the matrix that the doc burned off came back, but the nail did not fuse together, so it''s as if I have this other piece of nail that''s kind of spike shaped (that''s an awful description, I know). When I tried to get rid of it, I made it worse.

I know I am supposed to cut the nail, even after the matrix is burned off, but I''m afraid to

canuk-gal - That sounds like an awesome idea! I''m glad you got your son''s problem sorted out, because this is really painful. For me, I haven''t been able to get a pedicure in forever, because I''m afraid with this nail

. One question, though, what''s Fucidin? Is it OTC?

oobiecoo - I usually cut my nails before getting a pedicure (when my toe is healthy enough) just because I like them as short as possible. I think there is a lot of truth in what is the common wisdom about not current the edges of your toenail. My issues started when I decided my round shaped toenails would look better squared. I started cutting off the sides as far as I could, and after some time my nails became ingrown. I now kick myself -- not too hard, because my toes hurt.

HI:

Sorry, it is an antibiotic--and obtained by perscription. Polysporin is, apparently, not useful for this.

My son squirmed the first few times I placed the rolled up CB, but once the inflammtion subsided, it was just another "treatment"

. Good luck!

cheers--Sharon

 

[monarch64]

I had ingrown toenails on both big toes when I was in 4th and 5th grade. A podiatrist removed the ingrown parts of the nails, from the roots (that sounds so gross, sorry.) I wore cheap tennis shoes with the toes cut out to school for a few weeks, lol. I also soaked my feet in warm water with epsom salts, and that was a huge help in speeding up the healing process.

Do you live somewhere that you can wear open toed shoes until your toe heals? Sorry to hear you''re dealing with this, I know what it''s like, no fun!

 

[brooklyngirl]

Thanks Sharon! I am no longer squeamish about these things, and I will definitely try that if the next treatment doesn''t work. It sounds a heck of a lot better than the alternative (having the doc give you a shot in the toe, and remove part of the nail

)

monarch - I have an appointment on Friday with the podiatrist, and will have the treatment you described for the third time, and hopefully my problem will be solved. I ahve this problem on both feet as well, but one is much worse than the other.

I live in San Jose, CA now, so it''s pretty warm, most of the time. I usually wear wide sneakers, crock, or loafers. Perhaps that''s why "good" foot hasn''t been a problem for me lately.

Thanks for the suggestion about soaking my feet. I''ll definitely do that.

 

[MommaBear]

I have had the same problem on and off for the past 10 years.
i use to trim it down myself but for the last 3 months, i''ve noticed that the curve of my toenail was no longer slight.
my toenail was growing out in almost a complete circle. the curviture was so extreme; my ingrown was on both sides of my toe
my podiatrist and he explained to me that the root of my toenail is set in an angled way.
thus the curved growth and the painful ingrowns.
he suggested that i remove the ROOT so that i will no longer grow a sidewall of the nail but
just the top of the nail. I''m still recovering from that surgery.

I included a really crude ''drawing'' of what i''m trying to explain.
you''ll see in the drawing that a regular growth has the side walls coming down slightly
but on me, it was digging into the middle of my toe and would have completed a circle had i let it continue growing.

it is a long recovery time and i know your wedding is coming...
i would suggest looking into the root removal procedure once the wedding is over.
Hope this helps

 

[asscherisme]

Oh, I feel your pain. I have had ingrown toenails and had surgery to fix them. Luckily mine stuck but I so feel you pain of how awful the problem is. I wish I could help.

 

[diane5006]

There should be several options for you...where I used to work...we would just remover the whole nail...root if needed...recovery was @ 1 week...but these people were not wearing high heels...

Best of luck