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Baby ingrown toenail can cause your young one a lot of pain and discomfort. Below are pictures of toddler ingrown toe nails, remedies, how to deal with pus and surgery treatment for child ingrown toenails.
Although less common in babies compared to adults, ingrown toenails can make your baby uncomfortable and can easily be the ticket to sleeplessness night for both you and your baby if it gets infected.
Baby Ingrown Toenail
Ingrown toenail can be quite painful for your baby. It most commonly affects the big toe but any other piggy can as well be affected.
Baby ingrown toenail happens when the toenail grows abnormally, piercing the flesh around it. This can happen as a result of abnormally growing nails that curve downwards, injury e.g. stubbing, or wearing baby shoes or socks that are too tight-fitting and thus crowding the toes together.
Among the early symptoms of ingrown toenail in babies are redness and swelling of the skin in one or both sides of the nail. The baby’s toe may also feel tender to the touch.
The toe is also typically painful and while your baby may not be able to tell you that s/he is in pain but you can always tell that he or she is not comfortable if they cry when the affected area is touched or pressed, or if the bay suddenly doesn’t seem comfortable with shoes, limps or grimaces while walking.
Sometimes a baby ingrown toenail gets infected. This is manifested in a blister full of and often discharging pus (yellowish-green fluid) and increased redness in the surrounding areas (growing bigger) of the skin.
As the nail continues to grow, the redness and inflammation in the surrounding tissues may as well increase.
Baby Ingrown Toenail Treatment and Remedies
Warm, soapy water is a simple yet very effective baby ingrown toenail treatment and should be your first line of action.
Start by soaking your baby’s feet in warm soapy water for 10 to 20 minutes before patting it dry with a towel and applying a dab of over-the-counter antibiotic cream or ointment all over the affected area. Repeat this 2 to 3 times per day.
You might as well consider filing the nail gently to separate it from the flap of skin around it. After that, lift the baby’s toenail gently with your fingers and then place a small pieced of sterile gauze or cotton wool beneath the nail to separate it from the skin beneath it.
Replace the cotton wool or the sterile gauze every often (at least once every day) to ensure proper hygiene and minimize the susceptibility to infection. If the ingrown toenail seems to be bothering your little one so much, you may as well consider using a carefully measured dose of an over-the-counter pain reliever such as acetaminophen.
As with any medications, you should follow the directions provided on the packaging to the letter. And of course don’t forget to keep the medicines away from your little one; you never know when his/her experimental side might go into high gear :).
Words of caution though: Never give aspirin to your baby as it can trigger Reye’s syndrome – a rare but often fatal medical condition
As the ingrown toenail heals, it is advisable to have your little one wear loose-fitting shoes or sandals or to allow him/her to walk around barefoot while in the house. In the majority of cases, ingrown toenails improve in just a few days of adopting the above remedies.
If an ingrown toenail doesn’t seem to be improving within a week however, it may be time to see your pediatrician.
Baby Ingrown Toenail Infection
Ingrown toenail often get infected if not properly and timely treated. It is thus important to follow the above treatment schedule as soon as your baby toenail shows early signs of this nail condition such as tenderness, swelling and reddened look in the area of the skin surrounding the affected toenail.
Some ingrown toenails will however develop an infection even when proper care and treatment is administered. This is typically manifested in an increasing degree of redness that seems to be expanding its reach to a bigger area of the toe (sometimes almost the whole area of the toe) and production of pus.
Should that happen, you should talk to your pediatrician immediately.
Baby Ingrown Toenail Treatment Pus
The other day someone asked “What is the best baby ingrown toenail treatment option for pus”. As we have already pointed out, pus (yellow or green fluid) is a common sign of infection. If your child’s toenail is discharging pus, avoid piercing the affected area to drain the pus and instead call your pediatrician immediately for appropriate treatment. The doctor will likely treat your kid with a round of oral antibiotic, or topical antibiotic cream or cream.
S/he might also need to cut the nail to separate it from the surrounding tissue or even cut a portion of the nail off. In some severe cases, the doctor may decide to refer you to a podiatrist.
Baby Ingrown Toenail Picture
You now know what an ingrown toenail is and what it means to your baby. So what about a picture to complete the whole picture? Well I agree a picture is a worthy punch line that is comparable only to a thousand (or more) words as some wise man once said. On that note here is a baby ingrown toenail picture:
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Baby Ingrown Toenail Treatment Surgery
The podiatrist or pediatrician can resort to surgery for treatment of severe cases of baby ingrown toenails. This is usually done as an outpatient procedure under local anesthesia meaning the patient (your little angel) is able to go home on the same day. Surgery involves the removal of the whole toenail or a part of it.
