Ingrown Toenail Surgery
What are ingrown toenails?
Ingrown toenails are a painful condition in which the hard toenail, grows into the soft skin and flesh around your toe. This will often cause redness, swelling and even infection if left untreated. For such a small area of the body, ingrown toenails can cause an intense amount of pain and discomfort.
Ingrown toenails can be due to a number of factors, they are:
- incorrect cutting techniques,
- poor-fitting footwear,
- injury or trauma to the toe,
- having sweaty feet causing the skin to be quite soft and
- unavoidable genetics
Nail Surgery:
Nail surgery is a common and effective treatment for painful ingrown toenails that are not resolving with conservative care.
It is basically removal of either partial or the entire toenail from the nail bed. It is a safe and effective procedure performed in a sterile environment by our experienced podiatry team.
Nail surgery for Ingrown toenails is a non-invasive procedure with less recovery time and pain post-surgery compared to other surgeries. Nail surgery may be suggested if the problem is recurring regularly, causing ongoing pain or the toe keeps becoming infected. The regrowth rates after nail surgery are very low, as we use a chemical called phenol to prevent the nail from growing back.
Indications
Nail surgery procedures are suitable for any patient who, following a complete podiatric assessment, presents with an acute or chronic nail condition, which cannot reasonably be managed conservatively.
Contraindications
As this procedure involves the use of local anesthesia, the presence of any existing systemic diseases (such as cardiovascular disease, asthma, diabetes), medication and allergies that may have adverse interactions with local anesthetic agents must be declared by the patient (you) at the time of the preoperative consultation, so that you can be evaluated as either suitable or not suitable for the partial nail avulsion procedure.
Further, patients who are pregnant or breastfeeding are recommended to defer nail surgery until they have given birth or finished breastfeeding.
After the surgery (post-op):
- Due to local anesthetic you should not drive a motor vehicle until full sensation has returned to your foot.
- When the anesthetic wears off, you may experience some pain and/or discomfort - this is normal.
- If you experience pain or discomfort for temporary relief Paracetamol (Panadol) is recommended in accordance with directions on the label. Do not exceed the maximum dose in 24 hours, for Panadol this equates to a maximum of 8 tablets in 24 hours.
- You are to avoid taking Aspirin for pain relief, as this is a blood thinner and may induce bleeding at your wound site.
- Post-op pain is frequently associated with resumption of high activity tasks. You are recommended to keep off your feet as much as possible for the remainder of the day with a gradual resumption to normal activity.
- Keep your toe and dressing dry and intact until your first scheduled post-operative appointment. This will be approximately 2-4 days following. This appointment will be made at discharge. If your dressing becomes wet, there is a greater chance for infection at the wound site.
- It can take a number of weeks for your toe to appear normal. As the wound heals, the skin will naturally close up towards the site of the nail and in time, there will be no sign you have had any procedure performed. You are reminded that the procedure will permanently narrow the nail.
- If you are concerned about any of the above following your procedure, please contact us immediately. If we are unavailable you should contact your doctor.
