Puss, ooze, swelling, discoloration, and pain are NOT part of an awesome Halloween costume.  When someone has a ‘pain in the toenail’, they often head straight to their bathroom to fix it right on up – my immediate family is no exception!  Both my husband and sister have attempted this home remedy of digging the corners out themselves to relieve the pressure caused by a nail digging into the side of their skin.

The problem is twofold:  first, most of the time people skip the step of cleaning their tools of choice before working on their feet.  This will most certainly lead to infection and a round of antibiotics.  You don’t want an infection toe when you’re trying to trick or treat, or even if you’re just on candy duty!

Secondly, when you trim back the corner yourself, you can angle the nail in a way that leads right back to an ingrown!  You want to gently snip the edge, not dig out the entire corner – this will lead to a larger ingrown nail down the road (Thanksgiving, anyone?).

If you see white drainage (pus) or the toe is red, hot, or swollen to the touch, do yourself a pain favor and head straight to a podiatrist!  You can read about some SAFE at home tips here.  Once the area is cleaned out (down to the root, but we use nice numbing medication BEFORE working on toes!) we can easily work with you on further options to make sure you aren’t limping this Halloween!!

A little over a year ago I became a new mom. When you’re a new parent, everyone always wants to tell you about their parenting techniques, horror stories, and tricks of the trade.  One concern I would continuously hear from these stories is how no one ever liked trimming the newborns fingers or toenails. I was told “Be sure you do it while their sleeping or else you’ll never get it done.” As well as “I was SO nervous to trim their nails I had to have someone else do it!” I had never realized what a fuss toenail trimming could cause.

Sure enough my time came when I had to trim my son’s nails. I was a little anxious at first just due to all the negative comments I had received over the past few months.  But I did indeed trim all of Mason’s nails without any major problems. 

When my son was about 2.5 months old I was hired on as a Medical Assistant at Heartland Foot and Ankle Associates. After just one day of assisting Dr. Lockwood with patients, I learned the importance of trimming toenails straight across.  I kept hearing Dr. Lockwood emphasize to her patients that when you trim toenails straight across you are training the nail to grow straight and not curve in, hence lessening the probability of getting ingrown toenails.

Besides improper trimming of toenails, ingrown toenails can also be inherited.  I personally have a history of ingrown toenails and have experienced their pain.  I knew that I wanted to do everything I could to keep from son from dealing with that same pain. 

Just a day or two after learning about ingrown toenails from Dr. Lockwood it was time for my son to have his nails trimmed. As I sat there going slower and meticulously trimming my son’s nails I kept thinking about what Dr. Lockwood had said the few days before:
Okay Natalie- trim straight across to keep your little boy from potential ingrown nails that hurt. 

Mason is a little over a year now and I informed/trained everyone that would potentially be trimming his nails on how to properly do it.  It might take just a little more time, but it is definitely worth decreasing the risk of ingrown toenails.

If you or your child has an ingrown toenail make sure you schedule an appointment immediaty to prevent more pain and possible infection.