How To Treat Ingrown Toenails
When you have an ingrown toenail, the last thing you want to do is to delay treating it. The longer you wait to treat ingrown toenails, the more pain you will find yourself in. The pain can become so unbearable for people that the light touch of a bedsheet touching their toe causes them pain. This is why you will want to make sure that you are treating your ingrown toenails as soon as possible. Here are some of the treatments that you might want to try:
Use A Toe Brace
Braces for your teeth gently move the teeth in the correct position that they should be in. Toe braces do the same thing but for the toenail. Toe braces are glued to the top of the nail that is ingrown. The braces help to protect your skin from the rough edges of the ingrown nail and lifts and guides the nail so it will continue to grow out in the right direction.
Use Soaked Cotton
The idea is to take pieces of a cotton ball, soak it in alcohol, roll it in a small ball, and place it under the edge of the toenail that is growing incorrectly. It is believed that the pressure from the rolled-up cotton ball will help gently push up the nail so it will start growing in the right direction. Soaking it in alcohol can help reduce the chance of infection. You should also change out the cotton ball piece for a new one once or twice a day to ensure that the area stays clean.
Have It Removed
If you are not able to get relief from the things that you do at home, you will want to make an appointment with a podiatrist. They will examine the condition of your toenail to decide if they need to remove the entire nail or just along the sides of the nails. By removing the troubled sections of the nail and narrowing the width of your toenails, you will not have to continue to deal with more ingrown toenails.
Now that you have learned a little about some treatments that can help with ingrown toenails, you will want to figure out which treatment you might like to start with. If this is a brand-new problem for you, you can take a little time trying the at-home treatment methods. However, if you have had this problem with your toe for a while and you are barely able to put on shoes anymore or walk normally, you might want to go straight to setting up an appointment with a podiatrist so a medical professional can resolve this issue quickly for you. Speak with a doctor about ingrown toenails for more information.