Ingrown toenails...

[Spoooon]

At what point do you think one should see a doctor about it? I've been suffering for two weeks now.

 

[Mo0o]

time to see a doc. incase it gets infected and then your really fsked

 

[spanky]

man i had big time problems with those for the past few years. had my big toenail removed (from both feet) about total of 4 times. if u think u might have it....go now. better safe than sorry. it was definitly not a peasant experience to have my toenail ripped out. the ripping out part is not that bad. it the first week of cleaning the dang thing. the bandages get stuck to the open wound where the nail was....man fuggin ouch!

 

[RossMAN]

You should make an appointment with your doctor for diagnosis and treatment immediately. Read this and this.

The longer you go without proper treatment, the more damage you could be doing.

 

[deerslayer]

I had one get bad enough once that i got a little thing of puss in the end of my toe and i had to pop it and dig my toenail out. COOL but painfull Never had it get that bad since, but i have to cut them or they will cut thru the end of my toe and they hurt till they get past the end. They haven't even gotten as bad as they will yet, my dad has em and i don't have them near as bad.

 

[bootymac]

god i hate it when it happens! all that infected sh!t oozing out of this and that! :disgust:
worst of all, i just got an ingrown toenail today! it hurts like a byotch

 

[jmcoreymv]

Just goto the Dr. I had an ingrown toenail, he gave me two shots in the toe (didnt hurt that much), then he clipped off the part ingrown. It looks funky for the first week or so but healed rather fast and didnt hurt at all.

 

[zippy]

Go see a doc.

I had ingrown toenails on both of my big toes a year ago. They bothered me all summer...I went to the podiatrist a few times. Well, it was pretty bad. I had gotten infections in them and it would just keep growing back in. After 3 visits or so I finally decided to get some minor surgery on them.

Here is what the surgery did; the doc cut off the edges of the toe nail so it doesn't curve under the skin and then took acid (I can't remember what kind) and put it on the edges at the base of the nail so that the nail cannot grow back where it was cut off. I had to soak my feet in epsom salts+warm water for 10 minutes every morning and night for about 2 months. Also, for protection I wore band aids/gauze pads on them to protect them. The good thing about it is that it doesn't hurt really. I was playing sports within a few weeks without pain (I'm talking touch football...2 hours of running...). Also, the nail doesn't look too bad- it's just a touch thinner than normal and supposedly only podiatrists can really tell. I can tell obviously, but most people can't. The procedure only took about 20 minutes or so and it just involved spraying the toe with some cold spray to basically freeze the skin, then a local anesthetic (the spray was so it was partially numb for the anesthetic) on the toe, cutting the nail, applying the acid, bandaging it up (only had to have that bandage on my toe for the night/overnight).

Of course, that is the last resort, you'll probably be able to get that taken care of without surgery (hopefully!).

BTW, I'm really glad I had the surgery, now I can play sports again without any pain and I don't have to worry about any more damn ingrown toe nails and the puss and infections! Gosh!

EDIT: Oh yeah, the edge of the remaining nail and the skin near where the procedure was done was discolored from the acid or something he put on for awhile actually- can't remember exactly what it was...but that went away after awhile. Heh, I obviously didn't even remember that at first.

 

[RossMAN]

Also, the nail doesn't look too bad- it's just a touch thinner than normal and supposedly only podiatrists can really tell. I can tell obviously, but most people can't.

Ok I'll ask, what I'm wondering is how do you know that most people can't tell? Just how many people do you show your toe nails to?

 

[Spoooon]

Well, I've started soaking my foot in epsom salt and hot water every night and started putting 3 in 1 antibiotics all over it. It hurts, but the infection seems to be going away. Basically, there isn't anymore pus. I figure as long as it's hurting then it isn't gangrenous either. The reason I don't want to have to see a doctor is because I don't have medical insurance. I'm just a poor, part-time student.

 

[zippy]

<< Also, the nail doesn't look too bad- it's just a touch thinner than normal and supposedly only podiatrists can really tell. I can tell obviously, but most people can't.

Ok I'll ask, what I'm wondering is how do you know that most people can't tell? Just how many people do you show your toe nails to?

>>

Because the podiatrist told me that...heh, it really isn't that obvious. He told me a story about that actually. He was scuba diving with another podiatrist, a colleague of his, and he saw someone who was about to go diving too and asked if they had this procedure done. The guy said he had and was surprised that he noticed because no one else ever had, heh, then he told him he was a podiatrist. Seriously though, when I don't wear socks or I'm wearing sandals...no one mentions anything.

 

[rgwalt]

Keep the puss drained, and keep the toe clean. I have to clip my toenails regularly, and I dig down to get the ingrown edges before the become a problem. Ingrown nails SUCK.


Ryan

 

[SWScorch]

when it starts to smell and putting weight on your foot causes discomfort, go to a doctor. I've had both of my big toenails lanced, but th eleft one became ingrown again. Sometimes, if its not too terribly bad, I dig it out with some nail clippers and just go at it.

 

[Mavrick]

I've had many surgeries (4 on each big toe) and now, everything seems ok (the acid used to burn the root is phenol by the way, or silver nitrate in some cases). But to cure minor ingrown toenail, the best way I found is to put a small piece of "packing strip" under the ingrown section. This is a thin cotton strip
that you just pack under the nail (near the infection) to rise the edge of your nail out of the flesh. That way, the infection should go away and after 1 or 2 weeks, your nail should have grown enough to be out of this section completely (and you stop putting strips under your nail at that time). When used properly, this technique cures it well and permanently, but you must do that before there's too much infection (won't really work then).

Anyway, the important thing is to know that it's gonna hurt quite a lot when you put the strip under the nail, but still, continue to push the strip until it's right underneath the ingrown section. If you pack it well, the pain should stop after about 18 hours, and after a day, your nail won't hurt at all anymore.

Good luck

(Medical name of the strip: Kendall Curity - Plain packing strip)

 

[Spoooon]

Thanks for the replies all. I'm going to give it another week with just the antibiotics and the epsom salt and see what happens. If it still isn't getting any better, then it's off to the doctor.

 

[rival]

whut the hell is an ingrown toenail? where it grows back into the skin on the top of your toe or what?
cuz dayum..

rival