INGROWN TOENAILS

Ingrown toenail symptoms include:

• Pain and tenderness in your toe along one or both sides of the nail
• Redness around your toenail
• Swelling of your toe around the nail
• Infection of the tissue around your toenail

Common ingrown toenail causes include:

• Wearing shoes that crowd your toenails e.g slip on shoes
• Cutting your toenails too short or not straight across
• Injuring your toenail
• Having unusually curved toenails
• Genetics
• Fungal infections

See your podiatrist if you:

• Experience pain or discomfort in your toe nail, see puss or redness
• Have diabetes or another condition that causes poor blood flow to your feet and you experience any signs redness, pain or infection

Conservative treatment such and clearing out down the side of the nail with the use of clippers, files and burrs. or surgical removal –

Ingrown Toenail Removal Procedure:

• Anaesthetic is injected into the toe behind the toenail
• The toe is tested to make sure it is completely numb
• The toe is then covered in beta-dine to keep the toe clean during the removal of the ingrown toenail
• In a partial toenail avulsion only the problematic / ingrown part of the toenail is removed to ensure it looks as normal as possible following the procedure. In a total nail avulsion the whole of the toenail is removed
• The toenail bed is then killed off with a chemical called phenol. This is 99% guaranteed to prevent toenail regrowth to ensure that you do-not have a reoccurrence of the problematic ingrown toenail. This also kills off nerves so minimal pain is experienced post surgery
• The toenail is then dressed with a sterile dressing
• You may wear normal shoes and continue activity the next day, although it is recommended to stay out of enclosed shoes and keep the toe dry until fully healed

Call us to find out whether ingrown toenail treatment is covered by your private health care provider. There are a few things to consider with your private health fund such as your level of cover, your policy waiting periods, annual limits and fund rules. It is important to know what you are up for prior to your visits to avoid unwanted, expensive surprises.