Ingrown toenails, or Onychocryptosis, is a painful condition caused by the nail breaking the skin, either on the sides or front of the nail. It becomes much worse when the break in the skin allows bacteria into the deaper tissues.
To treat an ingrown toenail, the piece of nail that is breaking the skin must be removed. Sometimes simply cutting away the corner of the nail is enough. Similarly packing the groove beside the nail with gauze can push the skin away from the nail, allowing the break in the skin to heel. Infected ingrown nails, a condition called acute paronychia, may require an antibiotic or toenail surgery.
When an ingrown nail is particularly bad or keeps recuring, your podiatrist may decide to narrow the nail permanently. This is called a partial nail avulsion or nail wedge resection.
The success of this proceedure is very high. Fewer than 2% of nails will cause a problem again. The podiatrist should try to fix the problem without removing so much nail that the toe appears unsightly.
Toenail surgery is usually performed under a local anaesthetic. This requires some needles. A skilled podiatrist can administer this anaesthetic with minimal discomfort. For the needle phobic Forest Lake Podiatry offers sedative medication or an inhaled anaesthetic prior to the injection.
Infections often require an antibiotic. Murray Paton is quallified to prescribe, antibiotics, inhaled anaesthetics, and sedatives if required.
Pain after the surgery is usually minimal. Most people don't even require panadol and are ready to return to work or school the next day.
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