Ingrown toe nail question...

[Trek234]

Hi all,

Out of curiousity, what would happen if you left an ingrown toe nail untreated? (i.e. you took care of any infection that may occur, but that's all you did)

[NekoChris]

1. !!!

THEN YOU WILL LIVE IN PAIN FOR ALL OF YOUR DAYS.

I SWEAR TO YOU.

I had one for /FIVE YEARS/.

That's right. FIVE YEARS. I'd trim it back when it got painfull but it KEPT COMING BACK.

Do yourself a favor. Go to a doctor, have them handle it.

What happened for me is they put some anethsia(sp?) on it (HURT. ALOT.) which kinda numbed it. (Make sure they do you up GOOD. I mean GOOD. If you can, just have them knock your goofy ass out. You'll thank yourself for it later.)

And then they went in, CUT the toe open around the nail. (OW), and trimed out the nail. They also did a good cleaning because even tho you get the infection you can SEE, there's gunk in the toe itself. (GROSS) Sometimes anyway. Well after they did that, they cut it all the way back to the cuticle(sp? again) and then they applied ACID to the cuticle to make sure that bad boy DID NOT GROW BACK.

The result is a rectangular nail that looks oddly amusing. One of mine wasn't completely killed on one side so it still comes back, every now and then, but as long as I keep it trimmed, it's cool.

[Old and In the Way]

2. gotta manage those suckers!

I have one on my big toe that requires "special attention". I know it's time when the toe starts to get sore. I have to go in out root it out.

works for me...

[nuxvomica]

3. Get it taken care of by a podiatrist

Mine wasn't infected, just inflamed and I found some sort of device at the drugstore that you insert under the nail to force it to grow out instead of in. I didn't have to wear at long and I took silicea 30X to help it along and heal the inflamation.

[Skittles]

4. JESUS TREK

I'M TRYING TO EAT DINNER HERE

[bbernardini]

5. For god's sake, get it taken care of...

I had them on both big toes my freshman year of college, and I kept hitting them on stones outside my dorm. They bled all the time and hurt like hell. I went to the doctor, who cut straight down both sides of the nails, and I haven't had any major problems since. A bit of pain when I have to wear dress shoes for hours and hours and hours, but that's about it.

Once the procedure is done and healed, the key is to cut straight across the nail. Your life will be much brighter.