We understand how you must feel when you have to keep a straight face in the meeting room while your toenail is misbehaving. The excruciating pain when the nails cut into the skin is unexplainable. In this nail disease, the nails are cut into one or both sides of the paronychium. To put it simply, ingrown nails occur when the nails decide to dig into your nail bed instead of growing over it. Though it may happen in the nails of fingers as well as toes, it would find its home sweet home in the big toes most commonly. Find out the types, causes, and possible treatments for your ingrown nails. And do not let them take shelter for long.
The medical term for the condition of ingrown nails is onychocryptosis. Onychocryptosis, as usual, is derived from two Greek words, Onyx which means nail, and Kryptos which means hidden, indicating a condition where nails are hidden beneath the skin layer. In this painful disease, the nails grow in such a way that it cuts into the paronychium.
The paronychium is the border of soft tissues present around the nails. The infection of these paronychium tissues is called paronychia. The nail plate can dig into either one or both sides of the paronychium in ingrown nails. Though the excruciating pain caused by this nail condition is a sign enough to go for proper treatment, let us look into some other symptoms that will help in easy self-diagnosis.
The pain around the toes or fingernails, a redness, swelled appearance of the surrounding skin, are some of the signs of an ingrown nail. Sometimes blood may ooze out from the sides of the affected toes or fingernails. These are some of the bedside symptoms one may keep handy to self-diagnose. Now let us look deeper into the matter. The signs ad symptoms of ingrown nails can be broadly classified into two groups: the early symptom group and the advanced stage symptom group.
The doctors may ask for an X-ray report if you visit with a complaint of ingrown nails. The X-ray will show the extent to which the nails have penetrated your skin. The doctors may help you understand the cause of the infection. Sometimes ingrown nails are the result of some injury that we are unable to remember. What about the time you bumped your toes against the lampstand and cannot move your toes for weeks! It sounds painful. But it is more painful than it sounds.
Knowing the causes of a particular disease will help to prevent its occurrence in the first place. Apart from accident and injury, there is certain behavioural negligence that acts as trigger factors of ingrown nails. Here are some of them which should NOT be on your to-do list if you do not wish to end with a pair of swollen nails:
If the causing factors of ingrown nails are maintained without taking proper measures, the toenails may be permanently damaged. The tissue or skin layer that grows over the edge of the nails to hold the nails in place is moulded permanently. This altered pattern of skin covering and nailbed may house several other kinds of bacterial infections.
For athletes, ingrown nails are a common phenomenon. According to research, an active football player will suffer from onychocryptosis at least once a year. Using their feet extensively to kick the ball caused their toenails to grow inward. People who are engaged with other activities, like dancing and kickboxing, encounter the condition frequently as well. The big nails are mostly at threat. Older people are also at high risk of suffering from this nail condition as their nails thicken with age. The toes may play nasty games!
During the initial stage of the ingrown nail condition, when your nails are not YET infected, you can easily seek the help of your home remedies. Let us help you find the correct match here:
If the symptoms do not pass and the ingrown nail condition worsens, set up the doctor’s appointment as soon as possible. Don’t shelter the nasty thing in your body for too long.
Armpit rashes are also painful nowadays. Check out this amazing guide to get rid of Armpit Rashes.
Your doctor may ask for a quick X-ray if you bust in with an ailing toenail. The X-ray will dictate how deep the nail went, and what actually caused the inward growth of the nail. Different sets of treatments are followed for naturally occurring ingrowth and ingrowth caused due to an injury. Know more about the ingrowth caused due to accidents and injuries.
Here are some of the treatments for ingrown nails:
OTHER COMPLICATIONS RELATED TO INGROWN NAILS
The nail disease will welcome several other complications. Some of which are not worthy enough of attention, while others may prove detrimental. People having a pre-existing condition of diabetes and vascular disorders are much more prone to develop severe infections if face with ingrown nails. They must be overtly cautious and take proper preventive measures.
Do not put off the medical appointment for a silly ingrown nail. They may suddenly decide to take the form of a gigantic complication. It may cause several types of bone infections. The tissues around the edges of the nail may start decaying due to infections. Foot ulcers are also commonly observed after untreated ingrown nails. Some of the severe complications may lead to a condition called gangrene where the tissues of the body start decaying and spreading to losing a limb.
Don’t let the disease spread to your entire healthy body. Read about other preventive measures for nail infections.
The toenails sometimes prove to be the most notorious of the lot. Getting jammed or bumped at the corners will encourage the nails to grow inwards cutting into one or both the sides of the nail ridges. Athletes and sportspersons are very much prone to this condition. For instance, footballers need to kick over and over with the tip of their big toe and it may easily cause an ingrown nail.
The infection caused by an ingrown nail is hard to surpass. Some homely measures can be adopted to get rid of the infection. Soaking the affected fingers in hot water for 15-20 minutes a day is found to be most beneficial. The hot water doesn’t let the bacteria build colonies between your fingernails.
Call off your habit of cutting nails in an angular manner. Start wearing cotton socks and make foot hygiene a weekly thing. Set up an appointment with your doctor if you see funny business around your toes. Pus release and watery discharge with tenderness and swelling are not really good signs. Heal the ingrown nail infection before other complications try to take refuge in the toes.
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