Ingrown Toenails

The ideal ingrown toenail treatment hinges on the level of severity. If the ingrown toenail is comparably mild, it can be treated at home by soaking the foot in warm water and subsequently leaving the nail exposed to the air for an extended period of time. However, there is no guarantee this approach will improve the ingrown toenail.

If your ingrown toenail is moderate or severe or worsens, reach out to Thunderbird Footcare in Peoria, AZ for assistance. We will explore all potential treatment modalities before considering surgery. However, if surgery is necessary, it will be a minor procedure performed in the office to remove the section of the nail that is ingrown. Your toe will be numbed during the procedure so there is no reason to worry about potential pain. The clinician might add phenol to the section below the cuticle. Phenol is a chemical that stops potential nails from regrowing, meaning the toenail will be a bit more narrow than it was before the procedure.

In terms of treatment modalities, some patients with ingrown toenails benefit from oral antibiotics. Others find soaking the compromised foot in lukewarm water a couple times each day for 15 minutes with Epsom salts added in provides pain relief and catalyzes healing. However, there is no guarantee this conservative treatment approach to ingrown toenails will actually work.