In-grown toe-nail

LegacyUser

See title.
This has been here for a few months but is only becoming painful now.
Who do i go to about this???
GP???
Does it require surgery??
Is just that I play alot of football and my toe aches when i wear my boots.
I'm afraid if I do anything about it that I'll be out of action for some time.
Please help

Ruu_Old

Go to your GP, they will be able to tell you what the next course of action is.

Selphie

If you don't do anything about it, you could bo out of action for an even longer time

dame

Or go to a chiropodist. They'll cut it and sort it out for you and show you how you should be looking after it in future.

Healio

The sooner you get it cut out the better, by the sounds of it yours shouldnt be too bad, as you say its only hurts when you put your boots on. Look up your local Chiropodist, there is one in stillorgan shopping centre, and another off bray main street. It doesnt take long to cut it out, and is relatively painless as long as it isn't infected. If it is infected (it will be swollen and a purple-ly colour) the best thing to do is soak it in warm water and salt, as it draws out the infection. Good Luck!!

Sam Vimes

i had one. they pulled it up out of the nail bed where it had dug in.
then i had to wet cotton wool and twist it until it was hard and put it under the nail so it would stay out of the nail bed until it had grown over. had to replace it twice a day for a few weeks and it was fine after that. ask your doctor about that treatment because the first guy i went to just yanked it out and it grew back twice as bad

edit: that may sound like medical advice but i'm just telling him to ask his doctor about the treatment so its not really

hunnymonster

http://www.podiatryireland.com/

thegoose

If you go to a GP they will recommend you to a hospital if it's bad enough to require surgery. Surgery takes all of one hour... they cut the root of the nail out so that it doesn't grow on the side where it grew into the flesh... Your nail will still grow, just 1mm on the side won't!

Failing that a chiropodist will cut it for ya and all will be good...

The surgery will have you out of action for 2-3 days as you have to keep your foot up and rest it.

Whatever happens, get new boots... incorrect shoe size is the cause of ingrown toenails... but also try cutting your nails in an inward V shape rather than straight across... cutting the V shape inwards at the top will force the sides to grow outwards rather than into the flesh... : )

Sizzler

No need to go to a GP unless its infected. Is there puss coming out of it? If not and its just red and sore then get yourself down to a chiropodist who should be able to do it for you there and then.Dont be scared by people saying "surgery", its a simple PROCEDURE. The chiropidist will inject your toe to numb it and after 20 mins or so will call you back in and remove the offending part of the nail and its instant relief. You will be able to walk afterwards but your foot will be numb for a few hours after

Cost me €200 and never looked back, the sheer pain every morning was excruciating so I would have paid anything to sort it !

You wont be playing footy for a fortnight though!

Small tip look at the ceiling when they are doing it, you wouldnt want to see someone pulling at your toe with scalpels and large scissors :eek:

o1s1n

thegoose wrote:

cutting the V shape inwards at the top will force the sides to grow outwards rather than into the flesh... : )

Myth. Your nail grows from the bottom, not the top. Altering the top wont change how it grows at all. Believe me I know, I've had them for years. Including about 4 operations. One of them was under general anesthetic. Ow!

wyndham

I had them on both big toes when I was about 15, few months apart. Regular chiropodist decided it was too far gone to sort it out as she wasn't equipped to give even local anaesthetic so was referred to a guy in Vincents. He is the topdog in the world of ingrown toenails in Ireland apparently and I have to say he is good. Only bad part is the injection. They inject twice right down into the bone of the toe to numb it. After that, you can't feel anything and you can watch while they do the operation. Was able to walk myself down to the DART about an hour afterwards, although that was probably because it was still numb. Needs to be rested for about 2 days afterwards and after that you can kick walls just for the buzz. Get it sorted out asap, as like all this type of things, the longer it's left the worse it will be. Very important to keep it clean as nasty things grow quickly in footwear.

TheVan

Go to a GP as soon as you can.

When I was much younger I left it far too long and had to go into hospital to get the entire nail taken out! Not pleasant compared to what it would have been if I had just gone earlier!

Sizzler

TheVan wrote:

Go to a GP as soon as you can.

When I was much younger I left it far too long and had to go into hospital to get the entire nail taken out! Not pleasant compared to what it would have been if I had just gone earlier!

Ehhh theres no point going to do a GP unless its infected :rolleyes:

Why pay €50 for the privilege of the GP diagnosing what you already know and sending you to a chiropidist !

the_syco

Toe Problem wrote:

See title.
This has been here for a few months but is only becoming painful now.
Who do i go to about this???
GP???

Yes

Toe Problem wrote:

Does it require surgery??

Depends how bad it is.

Toe Problem wrote:

Is just that I play alot of football and my toe aches when i wear my boots.
I'm afraid if I do anything about it that I'll be out of action for some time.
Please help

Yes and no. If you do something about it now, you may only be out of action for a few months. No action, and they may have to chop your toe off. I ain't kidding.

LegacyUser

'1. Go to chiropodist

2. Put a small bit of cottom wool under the bit that's
pressing on the flesh ; this will raise it up a bit.
This is to try and not let it get infected (or even if it is)

3. When cutting your nail - U should ALWAYS do it in a V shape.
This forces the outsides to grow towards the middle
thus relieving the pressure on the flesh

4. U should now be able to play football again

Take care with some doctors - their solution maybe the
painful operation of removing the nail - without root in
which case it will regrow again (and more than likely U will
get the same problem all over again) or they might
suggest removing root and all (i.e. no more nail).
This course of action may well NOT be necessary
and following the above U could end up with a very
healthy nail.'

Kinetic^

unroggggie wrote:

3. When cutting your nail - U should ALWAYS do it in a V shape.
This forces the outsides to grow towards the middle
thus relieving the pressure on the flesh

This is an absolute myth. My chiropadist cuts then differently each time I go to him.

I've had the procedure carried out by my chiropadist 2 years and I've had no problems since.

Lainey

had to have nail done in hospital last year.. left it so long so go to GP asap

mukki

any idea what caused it, are you wearing bad shoes, or playing sports,

if not, then it will only grow back ingrowen, i had the ingrowen bit clipped of 3 times in hospital, and it just grew back ingrowen, only permanent solution was to peel my toe like a banana and remove all traces of nails, and soak the nail bed (on the bone) with acid for 30 seconds, problem solved, no more big toe nails (except for a bit about 3mm thick that still grows, i can easily snip it when it annoys me

Victor

We don't know how bad your toenail is. Go to a chiropodist. Don't believe all the "you'll need to have your leg chopped off" scare stories, its possible the nail just needs to be trimmed in a certain direction.

LegacyUser

I dont think its too bad.
I'll arrang to go to doctor.
I think it was cased by cutting my nails too short and cutting them rounded rather than straight across.
My footwear isn't tight so dont think that caused it.
Its not infected and theres no puss.
Thanks for the replys

jesus_thats_gre

Get it lashed out and the relief will be unbelievable.

mukki

Toe Problem wrote:

I think it was cased by cutting my nails too short and cutting them rounded rather than straight across.

thats another myth! it doesn't matter what way you cut it*, thats the end of the nail your cutting, the problem is the nail width further back, and some slight impact causing it to break the skin and streaming in a nice combination of fungi and bacteria, causing the skin to swell and get split further by the nail edge


* please don't sue me (or boards) if you happen to get an ingrowen toenail after you take my advice, its deffo got nothing to do with it


goto your gp

now having said all that time for a little story

I damaged the nail on a toe (not my big toe see above), and it got ingrowen, so i pushed a jaw of my leather man under the nail (ouch). it took me about 10mins to get it in enough, then i pinced the jaws of the leather man together and twisted the leatherman through 90degrees, pulling the ingrowen bit out, then i snipped this bit off with a cissors.

I kept the toe wrapped in bandage with antiseptic (changed every day) for 2 months, (so if the new nail cuts the skin it wont get infected and swell, see above) until the nail has growen back fully.

b3t4

Go to your a chiropodist not a GP.

A chiropodist is basically a foot specialist. I can't see why you'd choose a GP over a chiropodist, it just doesn't make any sense.

I had a number of ingrown toe nails when I was in my teens. I went to a chiropodist every time and the toe nails eventually sorted themselves out. It was generally cheaper than a visit to the GP's but that could of changed concidering I was last at one about 10yrs ago.

A.