In Grown Toenails

[treillw]

Seems by the end of the season, my big toes are getting pain from ingrown toe nails. My boots and sock combo combined with tons of miles must press my nail down into my toe pretty good.

I had one cut out about 2 years ago. Seems that I still have some pain in it and the other toe is doing the same thing.

When I was getting it cut out, the nurse told me that the natural way to heal ingrown tonails is to let them grow longer and cut them into a V shape with the middle of the nail being the shortest part and the two edges being longer. They are currently growing like that, but it seems to be a terrible idea and making the nails more prone to curving downward, as there is more of an area for my shoe to bend the toenail down into my toe.

Watched a youtube video on how to cut toe nails to avoid ingrown nails and the doctor on there said to cut them rounded, just like you would your fingers. I thought that was the wrong thing to do and you were supposed to cut them straight across. He said not to cut them straight across, because like I mentioned above, it gives more of an area to be pressed down into the toe. But hes a youtube doctor, so I don't know if I should trust him!

Anybody have experience with this? How should I cut the snake tongues I currently have?

 

[JoeDirt]

I was plagued with ingrown toenails as a kid, nothing really worked. I had part of my cuticle killed so my nail doesn't grow as wide. Best thing I've done!

 

[treillw]

I was plagued with ingrown toenails as a kid, nothing really worked. I had part of my cuticle killed so my nail doesn't grow as wide. Best thing I've done!

That's what I did as well, dunno if they fully killed it though or something. Didn't hike as much this year, but I could still feel a touch of pain.

 

[dieselchessy]

I’m no doctor, not even close.

Wear boots that fit. Get good insoles with a good arch and heal pocket like super feet green, to prevent toe jam on descents. Lace boots properly to prevent toe jam. Keep toenails trimmed short.

When I would get one starting I would pry the nail up a bit and drip some superglue down in under the edge to create a hard base to keep it from digging in. That always seemed to help.

Proper fitting and laced foot wear was the ultimate fix for me. That and learning to avoid toe jam on downhill travel.

 

[BBob]

This is a big reason why I've gone to Vivo Barefoot shoes and boots for a lot of things. There are other boots that have larger toe boxes that help with this too.

These things actually work pretty well too:

Ingrown Toenail Home Treatment | CurveCorrect

Ingrown toenail braces from CurveCorrect. Our ingrown toenail brace is the most effective treatment available for correcting ingrown toenails at home.

www.curvecorrect.com

How to Apply the Ingrown Toenail Brace | CurveCorrect

9 steps to apply the CurveCorrect Ingrown Toenail Brace. Toenail strips that treat ingrown toenails.

www.curvecorrect.com

Voltaren helps with pain and inflammation. It's for arthritis but it worked for me to get the swelling under control.

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Discover Voltaren’s products, ranging from arthritis pain relief gel to dietary supplements. They support your joints and health so you can feel your best as you move through life.

www.voltarengel.com

 

[gman82001]

Wet some cotton with peroxide and tuck it up under the nail and it’ll help the nail kind of grow up and out so you can trim it straight across. Or like said above have the edges killed. My daughter had it done and is super happy

 

[MaraviaDave]

This may seem like strange advice, but…. the only thing that works for me is to apply Neosporin into the ingrown area of the toe nail. I work the Neosporin into the affected area as much as I can. Applying Neosporin frequently until the ingrown toenail issue is resolved. I’ve recommended this to others and they’ve also had good results. Since I started using this trick……I haven’t had a serious issue in years. At this point, if I feel an ingrown toenail starting to develop, I’ll immediately begin using Neosporin. The issue resolves itself quickly and never develops into a serious problem.

 

[Jeremyc_1999]

Have them pull the toenails and kill the roots so they don’t grow back. Best thing I ever did. Fought it for years and had multiple doctors cut part of the toenail and cauterize it , but still fought it the. One suggested just going with no toenail at all. Best thing I’ve ever done.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

Wet some cotton with peroxide and tuck it up under the nail and it’ll help the nail kind of grow up and out so you can trim it straight across. Or like said above have the edges killed. My daughter had it done and is super happy

This.

Cut straight. Use nail file to round edge if needed.
Don't use cotton ball. Use gauze. Make a small ball and keep tail, like a comet, gentle tuck the ball under the distal edge of the ingrown toenail. Remove by pulling the tail and reapply once daily with new gauze. Continue until healed. You can find good info online on this procedure but it's simple.

Usually a partial nail avulsion with matrixectomy (chemical cautery) is only done in patients with recurrent cases. Sounds like you fit the profile.

 

[wingmaster]

Had one every year until I got a matricectomy, never got one again!

 

[J Batt]

I was plagued with ingrown toenails as a kid, nothing really worked. I had part of my cuticle killed so my nail doesn't grow as wide. Best thing I've done!

Same. Every time I did a steep hike my big toes would bleed. Had a doc kill the root where it was ingrown and never had another problem. I also wear shoes/boots big enough to not let my toes hit the end, even while going downhill.

 

[Brettkazz]

When cutting your nails. Always cut a straight line. Do not cut the corners or round them off

 

[onmyway]

My ingrown nail issues went away when I started cutting the nail straight across.

 

[Jeremyc_1999]

Had one every year until I got a matricectomy, never got one again!

This ^^^^

 

[Burnsie]

I'm fortunate, I cut my toenails nice and rounded and have never had an issue. Only issue I have is if I cut too far/deep around the corner I sometimes have a hunk of nail that will hang on, and if I just pull it out I can get a chunk of meat hanging on and it bleeds like crazy - this will then often times get infected and that's painful.
My son on the other hand had ingrown toenails in his big toes nonstop when he was young. He had more ingrown nails before he was 12-13 than most people have in a lifetime. Took him to the specialist and he could immediately tell by the shape of his toe and nail why he had so much trouble. He cut down each side of the nails leaving only a narrow strip of nail down the middle - maybe a 1/3 of the nail remained. He pulled out both sides and then stuck q-tips way down in each corner with some type of chemical on them that killed the nail bed - he has never had an issue since. I had to look away a couple times when he was pulling the nails out, gave me the willys. I felt bad for my son, but also proud. He was only about 13 - I told him it was probably going to hurt so be prepared. To inject the anesthetic the put the syringe right up under the nail several times to deaden things up - it had me squirming - I looked up at my son and he was stoned faced, but you could see his eyes starting to well up - he kept it together and never said a word.
Afterward I asked him how bad it was, he said it hurt like hell, he'd never do that again.

 

[BATTLEBORN]

I've fought ingrown's most of my adult life. the Dr. cut the outer 1/3'rd of my nail and killed the nail bed. It was not supposed to grow back hence permanently fixing the issue. WELL, The entire nail grew back anyway, still deal with them from time to time.

 

[Poser]

I’d say part of this has to do with the shape of your toes. The more square shaped your toes, the more square the cut, but ultimately, you do not want your toenails making contact with the inside of your footwear.

Being no stranger to performance footwear after years of climbing, snowboarding, backpacking, Mtn biking etc, I’d had my share of toe issues. I have very large toes that are much more round than square. I cut them in a round shape, spend quite a bit of time filing and dig out under the toenails every few weeks. I think this is an overlooked aspect as you’ll get skin starting to pile up under the corners which will begin to cause you problems. Next thing you know, you have an inflamed cuticle and then the toenail growing into the skin happens. I have this full toenail kit for deadlift with every maintenance scenario.

 

[rclouse79]

I had an ingrown toenail experience from almost two decades ago that I still vividly remember. I had some uncomfortable work shoes that I should have stopped wearing, but eventually I could feel my pulse in my big toe. My buddy in med school told me to lance it and gave me a syringe. I barley pressed it in next to the nail and what erupted from my toe reminded me of a mini soft serve ice cream machine. It was instant relief and it eventually healed up.

 

[FI460]

I had an ingrown toenail experience from almost two decades ago that I still vividly remember. I had some uncomfortable work shoes that I should have stopped wearing, but eventually I could feel my pulse in my big toe. My buddy in med school told me to lance it and gave me a syringe. I barley pressed it in next to the nail and what erupted from my toe reminded me of a mini soft serve ice cream machine. It was instant relief and it eventually healed up.

Oh ya. Sometimes I can just put weight on my big toe and the nail will do that for me.

I run the smallest swiss army knife scissors down the edge of the nail as far as comfortable and clip it off. Then pull the ingrown portion out with a multitool. Sometimes it has an attachment to the root that bleeds. Clean it exceptionally well and walk it off.

I've been doing this for around 20 years now.

 

[doughnut]

When cutting your nails. Always cut a straight line. Do not cut the corners or round them off

Had ingrown toenails as a teen and this is what my doctor told me. Cut them straight and let them grow out a little long. Also make sure your shoes are fitting properly. I cut several out myself. Hurts like hell, but the relief afterwards was worth it.