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Here’s how to fix an ingrown toenail at home and by yourself. These pedicure skills and tips will help you fix big toe painful toe nails painlessly and fast enough.
Injury such as stubbing your toe on the ground can cause bothersome ingrown toenail and so can ill-fitting shoes, fungal infection, and incorrect cutting of toenails. The question then is “How can I fix an ingrown toenail at home myself”. In this article, we’ll provide you with a comprehensive highlight of the various options available in treatment of this nail condition.
How to Fix an Ingrown Toenail at Home Yourself
If you are into the idea of trying some home remedies before leaping out to call the doctor – and most of us are – then you may want to learn how to fix an ingrown toenail at home yourself.
Most cases of ingrown toenails respond well to a simple treatment with warm, soapy water that you will sometimes see being referred to as an “ingrown toenail soak”.
The idea behind this simple treatment therapy is to soften the toenail and the skin fold around it and then guide its growth out of the skin fold. Here is how to go about it:
- Dip the ailing toenail into a basin containing warm, soapy water. Leave it soaked in the water for 10 to 20 minutes to make the skin fold surrounding the toenail softer. You may as well consider applying a few drops of olive oil onto the afflicted area.
- Using a clean cotton bud, push the skin fold away from the toenail in downwards and outwards motion starting from the base of the toenail all the way to its tips on both sides. This helps to detach the toenail from the soft tissues around it.
- Now place a small mass of cotton wool or a dental floss beneath the toenail. This acts as a wedge and helps to keep the toenail out of the skin and growing over, rather than into the skin. It is however important to change it frequently to avoid infection.
- Do this 2 to 3 times each day and your ingrown toenail will be fixed in 3 days.
If your toenail doesn’t show any relief 3 days or so down the line (or seems to be worsening), go see your doctor as this might be a sign of infection.
While healing, you may want to protect the toenail from crowding and excessive pressure that is typical of closed shoes by wearing open-toed shoes, sandals or shoes with enough room for the toe.
To reduce pain, you may want to take some over-the-counter pain relievers such as paracetamol, ibuprofen (commonly sold as Advil or Motrin) or acetaminophen (commonly sold as Tylenol. You should however not use aspirin if treating a kid aged below 16 years.
As for people with diabetes, you should seek medical attention immediately rather than try to treat yourself at home as you are more at risk of developing complications.
There you go! That is how to fix an ingrown toenail at home. Now go ahead and get the ball rolling and you will be back to your normal routine in no time at all.
Can a Pedicure Fix an Ingrown Toenail?
Improper pedicure practices can result in ingrown toenails as our infected ingrown toenail pictures showed, but can pedicure be used to reverse the situation and fix an ingrown toenail? Well, the basic answer to the question, “can a pedicure fix an ingrown toenail?” is NO. In its basic sense, pedicure won’t help to cure ingrown toenails.
As a matter of fact, you will want to stay away from pedicure treatments while your toenail heals. This is because pedicure tools are often not as sterile as you would want them to and can easily cause or worsen an infection and aggravate the condition.
How to Fix an Ingrown Toenail Painlessly
Having an ingrown toenail is painful enough and if going through some more pain to relieve it is not something you may want to consider, you may wonder how to fix an ingrown toenail painlessly.
Luckily the ingrown toenail soak described above is no more painful than the condition itself, depending on how you look at it, more so if you include some painkillers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin) to the mix.
How to Fix an Ingrown Toenail Fast
You may want to know how to fix an ingrown toenail fast if an ingrown toenail afflicts you even as the date for an upcoming event approaches fast – maybe you have to attend your sister’s wedding this coming weekend and would like to appear your best during that big day, perhaps put on that stylish pair of shoes.
Well, ingrown toenails typically heal within 3 days with the warm, soapy water soak [described in a previous section of this article] so long as they are not infected. If that is not fast enough, then you may have to reconsider your options on what footwear to put on during that day and maybe take some painkillers along.
You could for example wear open-toed shoes or sandals to prevent exerting excessive pressure on the toes.
How to Fix an Ingrown Toenail on Big Toe
Browsing around in one of my favorite online discussion boards, I came across the request, “Please explain how to fix an ingrown toenail on big toe”.
The big toe is most commonly the one afflicted, but any piggy can as well suffer from an ingrown toenail. The Ingrown toenail soak described in the first section of this article will work for the big toe as good as it would for the smallest foot digit.
If that is not the case however and your ingrown toenail persists for more than 3 days even with proper treatment with warm, soapy water, you should see your doctor (or a podiatrist) immediately to rule out infection. If there is no infection, you could be a candidate for ingrown toenail surgery.
