I was clipping my toenails and seem to have nipped on a little too short. I now have a nasty little ingrown nail. Does anyone have any tips/remedies about how to treat it?

thanks a bunch,
ampersand

I'm not sure how bad yours has gotten, but a good thing to do is to keep cleaning it with peroxide or some kind of disinfectant. Maybe soak it in some water with some espon salt and, if you can, keep pulling down the skin. I was able to avoid a couple ingrown toe nails this way, but only cause it was in the VERY early stages of becoming an ingrown toe nail. I was able to recognize it because i've been through THREE ingrown toe nail surgeries on my large toe. And that SUCKS!

The last time was the worst, they have to remove my whole toe nail as well as two huge chunks of skin :| My doctor was the best though. In one of the surgeries, he dropped the chunk of skin on the floor, and I heard it make a little smacking sound as it hit the floor and the doctor called the nurse, "Helen, come pick the dog meat off the floor!" Haha. Sorry. That may have been too much info. In anycase, keep cleaning it and I hope it doesn't get to the point where you have to get surgery. :up:

For whatever reason, I used to get ingrown toenails all the time as a kid. Here's what you need to do:

Two to three times a day, soak your toe in hot water, as hot as you can stand it, for 10 or 15 minutes. When you're done soaking it, try to work out some of the pus, and see if you can pry the ingrown nail out above the infection.

Afterwards, spray some Bactine or something else on there. Do NOT use Neosporin or anything greasy, because that will lock in the bacteria. Not good.

If at any point you see a red line creeping up from the site of the infection, go to the emergency room IMMEDIATELY. That is blood poisoning and will kill you if it reaches your heart. That probably won't happen though, so don't worry about it too much.

Good luck!

I used to have them as a teen. Soak it in HOT water for the 10-15 minutes mentioned above. But do this at bedtime. Then take the stickiest tape you can find (I used duct tape) and tape UNDER the toe, applying tension on the top flaps next to your nail. Depending on the size of your toe, 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch wide, and about 1 inch long should do the trick. Try not to get any of the adhesive on the wound, if there is one. Now leave it on till you get up in the morning. After the very first night, you should notice some relief the next day. Keep doing this for at least a week after you think you dont need it anymore. Also, if the wound is pussing, buy some charcoal caplules and some gauze. Open 1-3 (depending on size od capsules) and dump the powder in the gauze. Now fold the gauze over and tape it to the wound. This will draw the infection out pretty quickly. It worked wonders for me!! Give me some feedback if someone is brave enough to try what admittedly sounds a little "quacky" Good luck!!

Sean

Two to three times a day, soak your toe in hot water, as hot as you can stand it, for 10 or 15 minutes. When you're done soaking it, try to work out some of the pus, and see if you can pry the ingrown nail out above the infection.


That's what I do, and it relieves a lot of the pressure too. Good luck.

I actually had an ingrown finger nail also, I didn't know it was possible.

oh dear... I thought this said "I have an ingrown TAIL"

I usually get all my foot surgery tools (nail clippers, files, scissors, all sorts of stuff with curvy pointy sharp tips) and just dig that sucker out. It hurts and it grows back in and I wouldn't recommend it... but I felt I had to add something almost useful to this thread rather than just my tail statement.

well.. I did have an ingrown tail, but then I stopped wearing such tight pants and now it is doing well.

Looks like it's soaking time for me, thanks for all the help. I once had one on my finger and had to do the same.

In addition to the bit with the soaking and tape (which I hadn't heard but seems like a good idea) try cutting a v-shaped wedge out of the middle of the offending toe if you can. As it grows, the two sections will tend to lean together, alleviating some of the pressure on the sides. My aunt's a doctor, and this is what she always told me to do.

try cutting a v-shaped wedge out of the middle of the offending toe if you can.

OUCH!!

LOL!!!

But seriously, I have heard this also. Cutting a small V in the toenail is supposed to help.

There's a product called Outgro that is meant for this.
It consists of benzocaine in an alcohol solution that
comes in a little bottle with a brush and costs $10,
but the relief might be worth it.

Note: it has various colorings, so might not be vegan.

The company's 800 # is 800-443-4908.