Ingrown Nails – and How to Treat Them

If you’ve never had an ingrown nail, you’re lucky.  They can be quite painful.  So how do you get an ingrown nail?  Usually, trimming your nails to short on the sides can cause your nail to grow out and into the skin on the side of the toe…Soaking your foot in warm water can help soften the skin that has grown over the nail.  Soak your foot in hot (don’t let it burn you, but make it hot enough to really draw out any soreness that you might have).  Soak your foot for about 15 minutes.  Pull your foot out of the water and gently push back the skin.  Pushing it away from the nail.  Putting a bandaid over the soft skin so that it is slightly tucked under the corner of your nail will help keep your nail from going back to the tender skin.  You may have to do this a few times until the nail gets long enough or trained enough to not grow into the skin.

Soaking your foot in epsom salt water will help draw out a lot of the soreness.  If you can, where shoes, such as, sandals so that it won’t be tight around your toe.  Which can make the nail grow back toward the skin…

See the doctor if the following happens to your toe or the surrounding area:

1. swelling
2. redness
3. pain
4. warmth in the area

And don’t wait for the toe to get too infected, because that can cause you even more problems.