Ingrown Toenail

At Go Podiatry, we have lots of experience at curing painful, ingrown toenails that may be affecting your sport or what shoes you can wear. 

An ingrown toenail is a nail that has pierced the skin and can feel a little like a splinter. Some nails can be very involuted (curved around) and not pierce the skin and still be very sore and inflamed. An ingrown toenail that has pierced the skin can become infected. In this case your GP may wish to prescribe antibiotics.

Treatment options can include non-surgical podiatry using fine instruments to provide you with relief from pain. You can be given nail cutting advice to help prevent recurrences. If the nail is cut away, then the problem should be resolved very quickly as long as the cause has been removed (e.g. poor nail cutting technique or tight shoes). Follow up appointments may be necessary, depending on the condition of your nail. 

For acute, recurrent or long-term ingrown toenails it is sometimes appropriate to recommend minor nail surgery carried out by your podiatrist under local anaesthetic. A portion of nail is removed together with the application of a chemical called Phenol to prevent regrowth of the ingrown nail and resolution of your painful symptoms. The nail will look normal (just slightly narrower) and the skin at the side of the toe will just grow up to the side of the nail. It is rare to recommend the removal of the whole nail.