What Is an Ingrown Toenail?
When a toenail is ingrown, it is curved and grows into the skin, usually at the nail borders (the sides of the nail). This “digging in” of the nail irritates the skin, often creating pain, redness, swelling, and warmth in the toe.
If an ingrown nail causes a break in the skin, bacteria may enter and cause an infection in the area, which is often marked by drainage and a foul odour. However, even if the toe isn’t painful, red, swollen, or warm, a nail that curves downward into the skin can progress to an infection.
What Causes an Ingrown Toenail?
An ingrown toenail happens when the edge of the nail grows into the skin beside it rather than over it. The shape of the nail, how it has been cut, and pressure on the toe all contribute.
- A nail that is curved rather than flat across its width.
- Cutting the nail down the side or too short, which leaves a spike at the border.
- Pressure from footwear that squeezes the toes together.
- An injury to the toe or the nail.
Symptoms to Look Out For
This “digging in” of the nail irritates the skin, often creating pain, redness, swelling, and warmth in the toe. If an ingrown nail causes a break in the skin, bacteria may enter and cause an infection in the area, which is often marked by drainage and a foul odour.
- Pain along one or both sides of the nail
- Redness and swelling around the nail border
- Warmth in the toe
- Drainage or a foul odour, which suggests infection
Ingrown toenails, from the clinic’s own image library.
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How Is an Ingrown Toenail Diagnosed?
After examining the toe, Ozan will select the treatment best suited for you. If an infection is present, an oral antibiotic may be prescribed.
Conservative Treatment Options
A nail that has only just started to press into the skin may settle with careful nail care and roomier footwear. Cutting down the side of the nail at home usually makes it worse, because it leaves a spike behind. Where the toe is infected, an oral antibiotic may be prescribed, though the antibiotic treats the infection rather than the nail that caused it.
When Symptoms Persist
Sometimes a minor surgical procedure, often performed in the office, will ease the pain and remove the offending nail. After applying a local anaesthetic, Ozan removes part of the nail’s side border.
Some nails may become ingrown again, requiring removal of the nail root. Following the nail procedure, a light bandage will be applied. Most people experience very little pain after surgery and may resume normal activity the next day.
Ingrown toenails that keep coming back often need a minor procedure to remove the problem edge of the nail. All our podiatrists perform nail surgery here at the clinic under local anaesthetic, with no hospital stay needed. Sterile instruments and aseptic technique are used throughout. At Manly Foot Clinic, we are able to offer both the partial nail avulsion and Winograd procedure for ingrown nails.
Ingrown Toenails in Children and Teenagers
Ingrown toenails are common in teenagers, particularly in sport, where a nail is repeatedly pressed against the end of a boot. The assessment and the procedure are the same as for an adult, done in the clinic under local anaesthetic, and the appointment is paced for the patient.
Our podiatrists see children of all ages, from toddlers who are learning to walk through to teenagers in competitive sport.
Ingrown Toenails FAQs
Even if the toe isn’t painful, red, swollen, or warm, a nail that curves downward into the skin can progress to an infection. After examining the toe, Ozan will select the treatment best suited for you.
Ingrown toenails that keep coming back often need a minor procedure to remove the problem edge of the nail. All our podiatrists perform nail surgery here at the clinic under local anaesthetic, with no hospital stay needed. Sterile instruments and aseptic technique are used throughout. At Manly Foot Clinic, we are able to offer both the partial nail avulsion and Winograd procedure for ingrown nails.
Following the nail procedure, a light bandage will be applied. Most people experience very little pain after surgery and may resume normal activity the next day.
Some nails may become ingrown again, requiring removal of the nail root. Manly Foot Clinic has not published a recurrence rate, so this page does not state one; your podiatrist explains the likelihood for your nail at the assessment.
All instruments are sterilised on site to Australian standards, and procedures use aseptic technique.
Serving Manly and the Northern Beaches.
Manly Foot Clinic is at Shop 3/3 Corrie Rd, North Manly, NSW 2100, and treats ingrown toenails for patients from Manly, Dee Why, Brookvale, Freshwater and Balgowlah. The clinic is open Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 5:30pm and Saturday from 8:00am to 2:00pm.