Ingrown Toenails
 

Ok random thread but has anyone ever dealt with ingrown toenails? I got a pedicure yesterday and the woman removed it. It feels like hell now, but not unbearable. I've had them out before and they didn't hurt after. I did some research on Google but wanted to get some of your opinions before I head into the doctor.

Ehhh, I think you should go to the doctor. It might have gotten infected and it's also possible that the pedicure lady didn't remove all of it.

If you're diabetic then run like hell to the doctor.

If it really hurts, then it probably is infected.

Cosign on Munchkin's diabetic advice; if you're not diabetic, then I might wait a day or two to see what happens.

I used to get them repeatedly throughout middle school and high school. I had them so regularly that my mom used to just remove them at home. Once, I had one (this is kinda gross) and I tripped and scraped my big toe pretty bad. Instead of it healing normally, the flesh grew on top of my toe nail. The bare, exposed flesh grew to the middle of my toe nail before I ever went to the podiatrist.

Anyway, I eventually had the bed of both of my big toenails removed and haven't had an in-grown toenail since.

ETA: After reading all the posts, I thought I'd add: 1) I am insulin resistant (ie-borderline diabetic) and have CP (which affects the way I walk, which is what the docs said caused most of my in-growns.)

Word to the wise:

If you have never had an ingrown toenail, do not do a google image search of them as I just did.

Soak your foot in epsom salt. My dd used to get them all the time and this would usually help relieve the pressure. Some times they are tender after you remove them, BUT you never know how sanitary nail places are.

I used to have ingrown toenails ALL THE TIME. Then, the summer of 2009 it just became ridiculously unbearable. I went to doc to have them removed. I had one done about 2 months earlier than the other to give it time to heal. I was given the option to have a sliver removed, and deadened forever, or to allow it to grow back. I had a small outside sliver on both big toes removed, and chose to NOT allow them to grow back. I'll be honest, it sucked for the first few months while the skin was healing, but I havent had any trouble since. Plus, the sliver was so small, that you really can't tell. Even when I get pedicures now, unless I've told you that they were partially removed, they still look normal.

Uh yeah I googled infections and almost threw up. The thought of having the whole nail removed makes me wana barf all over. My toe looks nothing like that. I think it's just healing. I cleaned it with rubbing alcohol. I'm not diabetic and have been tested for insulin resistance a while ago so I think I'm ok.

This place, while one of the cheap ones, is very clean. I watch them clean everything after a pedicure is done and she cleaned the already clean tools before she worked on me so I'm not too worried about that.

Had a pedicure a couple of weeks ago and she removed some of the ingrown part. It kind of stung (mildly) for a couple of days but no problem after that.

Same. I got them all the time in high school. I would take off my socks after a basketball or softball game, and they would be soaked with blood and puss. I don't think I would ever trust a pedicurist to remove one. I went to one podiatrist, who would cut the nails back, and they would go away for a while, but they'd always come back. It was awful. I eventually went to a different podiatrist, and he said the only thing that would "cure" it would be to remove that portion of the nail entirely so it would never grow back. He numbed both big toes with a local, then on the outside of each toe, he removed about 1/8th of an inch of nail all the way down to the bed, and then cauterized the nerve so it would never grow back. Problem solved. Never had another ingrown since (knock on wood).

In college I had one so badly infected I had to go to the er.

They removed the nail.

WORST. DATE. EVER.

^^This post WINS.

I had ONE. Just one time. I won't go through all the gory details of what I had to do for it, but it eventually grew out and went away. I mean, it took forever, but I had no idea you could have it removed. I didn't even think that was possible.

I had one surgically repaired. A few notes:
don't EVER let a pedicurist cut down the side of the toenail. You're just inviting disaster.
You'll feel like a huge dork going to the doctor, but they see them ALL THE TIME. Suck it up and head in there.
I wouldn't have a pedicurist "fix" an ingrown toenail. They are really not to be messed with.
Once you have it fixed, make sure you are only seeing highly reputable pedicurists after that. If there's any question at all about their hygiene practices, no cost savings in the world is worth it.
Stop wearing shoes that don't fit!

To give you a little background on my repair, first the doctor had to get rid of the infection. I soaked my toe in Betadyne every day for a couple weeks. Then he numbed the toe, cut off a chunk of skin (I suppose all the inflammation had caused too much skin to grow around the nail), and then cut off a piece of toenail that was hidden under the skin that was about 1 cm wide. No pedicurist would have ever been able to get that deep without practically sending me into shock from the pain. And then I got a couple stitches. I don't remember exactly but it was 2 or 3.

And finally, my Dad who has skin cancer AND diabetes always suggests this rule of thumb: if you have a thing and it doesn't get better in 3 days, go to the doctor.