Larger text size Large text size Regular text size. What Is an Ingrown Toenail? How Do Ingrown Toenails Happen? Other common causes of ingrown toenails include: Shoes that don't fit well. Shoes that are too tight can push the skin on the sides of the nail up over the nail, forcing the nail to grow in.
Shoes that are too short also can cause nails to grow into the soft skin. Toe injuries. Some severe toe injuries can make the nail fall off. If that happens, the new nail can grow back ingrown. Repeated activity. An ingrown toenail can occur on any toe on the foot, but happens most frequently to the big toe.
You can easily spot an ingrown toenail — the skin actually covers the toenail. The toe may eventually become red, swollen, and quite painful. Sometimes, the skin may even feel hard or tight to the touch.
If infection sets in, you may also notice a bit of drainage pus seeping from the skin where the nail meets it. Ingrown toenails happen for many different reasons. Mary's HealthCare in Louisville, Ky. If you have a congenital condition, meaning a problem present at birth, such as very large toenails, you're at risk of developing ingrown toenails.
If the pain is severe or spreading, your doctor can take steps to relieve your discomfort and help you avoid complications of ingrown toenails. If you have diabetes or another condition that causes poor blood flow to your feet, you're at greater risk of complications of ingrown toenails.
Left untreated or undetected, an ingrown toenail can infect the underlying bone and lead to a serious bone infection. Complications can be especially severe if you have diabetes, which can cause poor blood flow and damage nerves in your feet. So a minor foot injury — a cut, scrape, corn, callus or ingrown toenail — may not heal properly and become infected. A difficult-to-heal open sore foot ulcer may require surgery to prevent the decay and death of tissue gangrene.
Gangrene results from an interruption in blood flow to an area of your body. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. This content does not have an English version. Your bandage is usually removed two days after surgery. Your doctor will advise you to wear open-toe shoes and to do daily salt water soaks until your toe heals. You will also be prescribed pain relief medication and antibiotics to prevent infection.
Your toenail will likely grow back a few months after a partial nail removal surgery. If the entire nail is removed down to the base the nail matrix under your skin , a toenail can take over a year to grow back.
If left untreated, an ingrown toenail infection can cause an infection in the bone in your toe. A toenail infection can also lead to foot ulcers, or open sores, and a loss of blood flow to the infected area. Tissue decay and tissue death at the site of infection are possible. A foot infection can be more serious if you have diabetes. Even a small cut, scrape, or ingrown toenail may quickly become infected due to the lack of blood flow and nerve sensitivity.
See your doctor right away if you have diabetes and are concerned about an ingrown toenail infection. If you have a genetic predisposition to ingrown toenails, they may keep coming back or appear on multiple toes at once.
Your quality of life may be affected by pain, infections, and other painful foot issues that require multiple treatments or surgeries. In this case, your doctor may recommend a partial or full matrixectomy to remove the toenails causing chronic pain. Read more about foot care and diabetes. Here's why your toenails might be yellow and the treatment options. A Listerine foot soak is a type of at-home foot bath.
It's primarily used to treat athlete's foot and onychomycosis toenail fungus. Ionic foot detoxes are said to rid the body of harmful toxins, but is this really possible?
Here's what the research has to say.
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