Ingrown Toenails
We Help You Get Rid Of Ingrown Toenails, Once And For All.
Ingrown toenails are frustrating. They can be immensely painful, irritate the surrounding skin and cause it to swell, and is often a source of infection. Even bedsheets can irritate ingrown toenails – let alone the enclosed footwear you’re wearing at work and throughout the day. Because ingrown toenails can repeatedly come back, it’s important to have a plan to treat them effectively and keep them
Gone For Good
There are two ways that we can achieve this, and the best option for you depends on your ingrown toenail history.
1. Conservative Management Conservatively managing ingrown toenails is fantastic for those that are experiencing an ingrown toenail for the first time, or have a direct and identifiable cause for their ingrown toenail – for example, wearing a very tight and narrow pair of shoes. If you’re in this category, then there aren’t any indicators that your ingrown toenail will come back (given you stop wearing those shoes or address the identified cause, of course).
In this case, during your appointment, we will use our tools to remove the offending nail edge that has penetrated the skin. We will only remove a small, straight section of the nail, after which you should feel a noticeable pressure relief and a significant reduction in pain when feeling around the toe. This is performed quickly and does not require anaesthetic. Your toe is then dressed, and we expect that your symptoms will be completely settled within a few days after the wound closes and the toe heals.
2. Surgical Management For those with a history of ingrown toenails, we highly recommend having your ingrown toenail surgically managed to ensure it does not recur in the future. Don’t worry – surgical management is performed straight from our podiatry chair by your Podiatrist. The difference is that it is performed under local anaesthetic and it involves trimming back a small wedge on the side of the offending nail edge, removing the nail spicule, and then applying phenol at the base of the nail to destroy the nail growing cells. It is only that small section of nail that will no longer
produce new nail, and your nail edge will look very smooth – and will be barely noticeable once it heals.
Because this procedure is more invasive, we will dress your toe with a comprehensive sterile dressing and review your progress within 1-3 days of your procedure. We then provide you with a take-home redressing pack and teach you how to re-dress your toe, which you will continue to do for the next 7 days or until your Podiatrist advises you that it is safe. You won’t need any time off work – aside from the evening of your procedure where we recommend resting with your foot elevated.
If you have any questions on ingrown toenails, why they occur or the treatment options we’ve mentioned, give us a call on (03) 972 2927 – we’d love to help.
