Ingrown nails are nails that have punctured the skin as they grow forward they usually present as painful areas, and may even be red and infected.

In grown nails should not be left untreated as they may become chronically infected. Just think about it you have an open wound that is kept in a shoe which is dark and moist, a great breeding ground for infection. There is another type of nail called an involouted nail this does not penetrate the skin but presses very heavily down the side of the toe and as such can be extremely painful particularly in tight shoes. Many ingrown nails are caused by self treatment, digging down the side of the nail and pulling pieces out is not a good idea. Some ingrown nails are caused simply by the shape of the nail, they are very “fan” shaped nails and sooner or latter they will dig in causing an ingrown nail. You should not try and self treat an ingrown nail as you might make it worse. Cutting a vee “V” in the end of the nail will defiantly NOT cure the problem, it is simply a myth. At Brighton Podiatry we will try to cut the offending spike of nail out, if this is successful they may put you on antibiotics to help settle the infection.

However if this does not work or the nail is too badly grown we may perform a partial nail avulsion procedure, this involves removing a small piece of nail we also generally remove the cells that cause this section of nail to grow, this ensures that the section removed does not grow back. This will minimise the chance of it ever re occurring. This procedure is not as painful as most patients think most are pleasantly surprised. The key is not to leave seeking help too long, the longer it goes on the more chance we will need to operate.

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