Ingrowing Toenail?

[Chris_H]

I think I must have an ingrowing toenail. The pain is halfway down the nail on the big toe, beyond where I can get under it to trim.

Is this a job for a chiropodist or a doctor?

[Davel]

Vet!

[davepoth]

Pliars.

[_bryan_]

Each time I've had one (3 times I think) I dug it out myself.

Get some nail scissors and tweezers, plenty of whiskey to relieve pain, then dig it out.

Be sore for a day or two, then as long as you've cut the nail straight it should grow right and not re-appear.

Bryan.

[Ian Lancs]

_bryan_ said:

Each time I've had one (3 times I think) I dug it out myself.

Get some nail scissors and tweezers, plenty of whiskey to relieve pain, then dig it out.

Be sore for a day or two, then as long as you've cut the nail straight it should grow right and not re-appear.

Bryan.

I did this for a bit (also packed some cotton wool soaked in dettol in there to clean it up). Eventually I had to go get it seen to by a hoof doctor. Which hurt

[bertieg]

i tend to use a stanley knife. cut straight down the nail towards the edge, right down to the base of the nail. then, get a pair of tweezers in there and pull it out. might hurt a bit, but has sorted it out on a couple of occasions

[Piersman2]

bertieg said:

i tend to use a stanley knife. cut straight down the nail towards the edge, right down to the base of the nail. then, get a pair of tweezers in there and pull it out. might hurt a bit, but has sorted it out on a couple of occasions

Exactly what I did with both my big toes a few years back after dicking around with infections, soaking in TCP, etc... for years. A bit of pain, a bit of blood but did the job a treat. Not been a problem since.

The problem is that you trim them across the top and a little round the side and the nail grows sideways into the skin over time. Make sure when you've sorted it out to never cut down the sides of nails, just hack them off quite striaght across the top.

[Chris_H]

OK, spurred on by your comments, I just rammed a pair of nail scissors down the side and prised it up to see what was what. Was disappointed not to see some bloody great spur causing all this pain. Anyway, I then cut down the loosened nail and when the pain from doing this subsides, I'll see where I am!!

[sawman]

A&E I would think...

but seriously - don't mess about with DIY surgery - go and see a podiatrist and get it dealt with once and for all, otherwise you will most likely be repeating this process

Couple of shots of local and its a 5 minute cure

[spikeyhead]

I've always used a small pair of wirecutters.

[Sammo123]

bertieg said:

i tend to use a stanley knife. cut straight down the nail towards the edge, right down to the base of the nail. then, get a pair of tweezers in there and pull it out. might hurt a bit, but has sorted it out on a couple of occasions

I did something similar to this a few years ago which sorted it out. Not had a problem since.

My Dad ended up having to have one of his big toenails permanently removed when he was younger as no matter what was done it would start in-growing again.

[davepoth]

Chris_H said:

OK, spurred on by your comments, I just rammed a pair of nail scissors down the side and prised it up to see what was what. Was disappointed not to see some bloody great spur causing all this pain. Anyway, I then cut down the loosened nail and when the pain from doing this subsides, I'll see where I am!!

The spur that causes it can be tiny - they quite often break off the bit of nail that you pull out, which is disappointing. I remember one time I had a bit of nail removed at the hospital and they actually missed the bit that was ingrowing. I pulled it out with a pair of tweezers and it bled like buggery for half an hour or so, but then it was much better.

[bertieg]

mine was getting pretty bad. i noticed what looked like a blister on the side at the top of my big toe. upon poking it with my tweezers, i discovered that was infact the nail growing through and out the side of my toe

[BliarOut]

Cut a V in the centre of the nail and leave well alone. Home surgery will only make matters worse.

From a bloke with only nine nails