Health

Why You Should Not Treat an Ingrown Toenail at Home

As much as it does not seem worth a doctor’s time, an ingrown toenail can become a recurring condition causing pain. However, you can prevent this by seeking help from a medical expert such as John Jurcin, DPM, ABPS, FACFAS, a podiatrist who can manage an ingrown toenail in Midtown East. This can help you relieve discomfort, pain, treat infections, and prevent the condition from coming back.

Understanding an Ingrown Toenail

Your toenail regrows once you cut them. However, sometimes they can grow into your skin rather than over the skin. This can lead to painful symptoms, which can worsen over time if not well managed. It can cause infection and make it difficult for you to walk. Therefore, despite an ingrown toenail being extremely common, it is not wise to wait for it to go away without any interventions, particularly if you often experience it.

Signs You Have an Ingrown Toenail

As mentioned earlier, your toe should grow upwards over your toe, but if it grows into your skin, you develop an ingrown toenail. You can know for sure that you have an ingrown toenail if you experience the following symptoms:

  •       Your toe looks inflamed, bleeding, pus-filled, or any other sign of infection.
  •       Your skin becomes tender, appears swollen and red, and is painful to the touch.
  •       The edge of your nail is embedded in the surrounding skin.

Although the ingrown toenail can happen on any of your toes, it mainly occurs in your big toe. Although it can affect anyone, some people seem to be more genetically predisposed to the condition than others. You might be at a higher risk of ingrown toenails if:

  •       You don’t trim your nails correctly
  •       Your shoes are too narrow or tight
  •       Your toe or toenail is infected or injured
  •       Your feet sweat a lot

Why Inquire Help for Your Ingrown Toenail

Although you might try to heal your ingrown toe at home on your own, experts do not encourage that for the following reasons.

The Toe Might be Infected

In as much as you are trying to take care of your ingrown toenail, you may be missing the point by not knowing that it is affected. This can lead to further complications, which you can avoid by seeking expert care. Your provider can detect an infection and offer the corresponding treatments. Therefore, do not just dig out the toenail at home, let your provider have a check.

Home Care Can Worsen Things

The more you try to fix your toenail at home without a clear understanding of your condition, you are only putting your toe at more risk. You might not be using the right sterile instruments increasing the risks for infections. Besides, you can injure your toe as you try to remove the nail. So, why don’t you leave the work to the experts who will do it effectively?

You Might Have an Underlying Medical Condition

Sometimes waiting for a complication to go away on its own is not only a bad option but also can make things worse. If you have underlying complications such as diabetes, a medical expert must examine your wounds from the ingrown toe to ensure they heal properly and safely.

Please, don’t sit and take things into your own hands when it comes to ingrown toenails. No matter how common the condition may seem, it is as serious as any other severe complication that your provider should address.

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