having an ingrown toenail

ccb056 · Post by **ccb056** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 8:54 pm

sucks

Vindicator · Post by **Vindicator** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 8:57 pm

I take a Qtip, strip the cotton off em, and shove em under the corners of my toenails to keep em from becoming ingrown. Works great.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 9:00 pm

Uh, *ahem*, Vindi, it's a lot easier to just make sure you clip them straight across (*not* in a half-moon shape; they grow like that, but you aren't supposed to clip them that way).

I had one last year that I got fixed. The infection never went away; every so often I get another pustulous disgusting mess that requires topical antibiotics.

ccb056 · Post by **ccb056** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 9:18 pm

I'm going to a md tom to have him look at it; what did they do to yours dcrazy?

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 9:23 pm

The left side of my left big toenail was ingrown. They offered me two solutions: "temporary" and "permanent". "Temporary" would have involved trimming it so it wasn't painful; this would have been a recurring thing. I opted for the "permanent" solution, in which they anesthetized my foot and lopped off the extreme left portion of my toenail, then cut the skin and pulled it back to remove the toenail.

An ingrown toenail is quite disgusting. It feels like the toenail just kind of curves down into the skin, but that is not the case. In actuality, it creates this vein-like pattern that resembles the roots of a weed after you pull it out of the ground. It wasn't all that painful to get it removed, so I highly suggest that way.

And you don't have an MD do that, you get a podiatrist to do it.

Zoop! · Post by **Zoop!** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 9:56 pm

I had an ingrown toenail that did that. I had a part of it removed but it didn't do too much. So I had the whole toenail removed. It looked funky for a couple of months, but now I barely notice....though I only have nine toenails.

Ouch man. Ouch. Good luck....

Lobber · Post by **Lobber** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:04 am

I had one once. Excrutiating pain.

I fixed it though.

What you need to do is allow the toenail to grow out past the skin, by riding on a surface other than your skin. I used tissue paper.

What I would do is use a very steril knife to very gently pry the nail up, then I wedged the tissue paper in there until I had "Jacked Up" the nail like lifting a car. Once it was propped up high enough I left it alone for a few days.

Every so often I had to change the tissue paper, and repeat the process, for at least two weeks, that's about how long it took my nail to grow sufficiently past the danger zone.

One warning, it hurts like hell. So you should have a high pain threshhold if you plan on the "Do it yourself" method. Today my toenails are all fine.

roid · Post by **roid** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:27 am

cutting your nails straight looks dumb.

when i get an ingrown FINGER(!)nail i just wait till it dies, drops off, then i grow another finger.
you humans however, are screwed.

(if a nail goes ingrown i wait until the surrouding skin dies, then it doesn't hurt anymore. it stops hurting, goes green (i'm serious), then drops off (or i cut it off). i have a high pain threshold.
i can't believe we're talking about ingrown nails

)

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:36 pm

I used to suffer from them, and I had a never ending battle with pain. Until I took my Dad's advice. He was a Doctor with 37 years experince in general practice, so I think he knows what he's talking about.

Firstly, get yourself some toe nail clippers. These are the ones with the "reverse" camber.

CUT YOUR TOENAILS IN REVERSE CURVES.

This means the outsides grow out normally and the middle portion is shorter than the outsides. Cut the toenail such that you can ALWAYS slip a fingernail under the corner of the nail.

If, like me, you've got a sensitive girlfriend, then use a file to remove any sharp edges along the top and corners.

YOU WON'T EVER HAVE ANOTHER PROBLEM. GUARANTEED.

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:40 pm

I've had several over the course of my life, all on my big toes. I've never experienced something more painful, or more disgusting to look at when they get infected. I had to go through temporary solutions several times, where the podiatrist would numb me up and slice out the offending part of the nail. (By the way, I don't know what hurts worse: the nail, or the Novocain freezing up every single nerve in your toe. Ouch

) Anyway, I eventually got to the point where he was able to, between infections, cut a little deeper and remove part of the root of the nail. Looks like I'm home free now.

P.S. I would advise against taking antibiotics for the things; they don't really do any good. The first time I had an ingrown toenail, my doctor prescribed these horse pills that seemingly killed off every single bacteria in my intestinal tract. I had severe stomach pains for a week after that one.

P.P.S. Anyone else have nails on some of the smaller toes that get ingrown but really don't get infected? There's not much I can really do about them, but they do get annoying once in a while.

Sage · Post by **Sage** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:45 pm

Yea I had one o' thems for a while back there. Damned those things hurt! I had the option of either getting the ingrown part of the toenail removed, or just seeing if I could live with it, stuffing cotton under that ★■◆● so it wouldn't slice into my toe. I went with option #2... I like to avoid the knife whenever I can. It seems to work pretty good though. But if I forget to stuff cotton in it, it will start hurting again...

I'll try that advice Mobius. It sounds like it would work.

And Top Gun, my ingrown toenail that got infected was on my right big toe. It feels like my left big toe is a bit ingrown too, but it never got infected. I still shoves me some cotton under there just to be safe. God those things stink when they get infected.

Flabby Chick · Post by **Flabby Chick** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:46 pm

Mobius wrote:CUT YOUR TOENAILS IN REVERSE CURVES.

Yup! My sister was told the same thing, works a treat for her.

Jeff250 · Post by **Jeff250** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 1:18 pm

That must look completley retarded though. Just cut the left and right parts a little bit longer than fully cut. It's not that complicated or ridiculous.

STRESSTEST · Post by **STRESSTEST** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 1:28 pm

ccb056 wrote:sucks

PICS!

Unix · Post by **Unix** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 1:37 pm

STRESSTEST wrote:
ccb056 wrote:sucks
PICS!

Hmmm....my intial response is no thanks.

ccb056 · Post by **ccb056** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 1:49 pm

unfortunately i don't have a digital camera
however, here is a brief description

POV = looking down at feet

left foot -> big toe -> left side

there is a little bit of dried red/black blood, then puffed up skin

The big toe is a little red as well

Jagger · Post by **Jagger** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 4:35 pm

Hmm... never had an ingrown toe nail. I do nothing special to clip my nails, and take zero effort to make sure I do it right.

Hattrick · Post by **Hattrick** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 4:40 pm

Flabby Chick wrote:
Mobius wrote:CUT YOUR TOENAILS IN REVERSE CURVES.
Yup! My sister was told the same thing, works a treat for her.

x2

I do the same thing and havent had an ingrown toe nail since starting this practice.

Liquid Fire · Post by **Liquid Fire** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 5:15 pm

Actually, it's funny this discussion about nail problems came up, because my nail's worrying me...

On my left big toe and the one next to it, there are large splotches of red/black stuff where the white area is. I don't know if it's a fungus or just dried blood.

P.S. No pics. Seriously.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 5:29 pm

I don't cut my finger or toenails... I just peel them. Never had anything ingrown, and I keep em shorter than the skin they rest on.

ccb056 · Post by **ccb056** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:35 pm

well, just got back from the doc, he cut it off, applied a base solution, and gauzed it up

have to take 3 antiboties a day for 10 days

STRESSTEST · Post by **STRESSTEST** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:48 pm

dammit, PICS@!!!!!

Sirius · Post by **Sirius** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:54 pm

Peeling nails? That looks even worse...

Tyranny · Post by **Tyranny** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:20 pm

I had surgery on my right big toe on the inner side of the toe because I used to have problems on that side all the time. That side of the nail grows out straight now because the nail can't grow on the side anymore.

However I've developed horrible cases of ingrown toenails on the other side of that same toe and both sides on my left big toe. It gets so bad that I'll start bleeding from my toes after wearing shoes sometimes because the nails cutting through the skin.

Needless to say about every other month I'm struggling with infected big toes where I have to rip the toenail from the sides completely up and out and then cut them with small scissors down along the sides to remove the nail that has cut down through the side of my toe. I have a high pain tolerance so its become rather normal. Still hurts like hell though...and yes, I clip my nails regularly.

Eventually I'm going to have the complete surgery so my toenails on my big toes won't grow on the sides anymore.

Tricord · Post by **Tricord** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 3:43 am

The trick is never to cut your nails too short.
Also, don't let your footwear be determined by taste and fashion; rather, look at comfort and hygiene.

My shoes visually suck, but they are easy to get into, they are very comfortable and I can wear them all year round without EVAH having the slightest trace of feet stink.

As far as my fingernails are concerned, it's time for me to clip them when they tick the keys when I play piano

roid · Post by **roid** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 5:21 am

as a kid i used to chew my TOEnails. no kidding

Zer0Cool · Post by **Zer0Cool** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 9:42 am

i wouldn't brag about that roid...and i never get ingrowns, i just cut my nails when they get to long, using a regular pair of toenail cutters. the ones with the straight edge.

Fusion pimp · Post by **Fusion pimp** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 1:11 pm

Only on the DBB can we have a 27 post thread about ingrown toenails.

Tetrad · Post by **Tetrad** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 2:25 pm

Yea, on other forums it would probably be 5 or 6 pages by now.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 8:19 pm

Ouch... i think I'm getting another one on my *other* big toe. I must say that wearing steel-toe boots all day doesn't help, because they're bigger and you tend to hit more things with them. That, and I'm on my feet a lot, or using them to play drums.

roid · Post by **roid** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 9:57 pm

Zer0Cool wrote:i wouldn't brag about that roid

ok, but i would.

the cute little contortionist that i was.

having an ingrown toenail

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