What are the Causes and Symptoms of an Ingrown Toenail?

At River Podiatry, we work tirelessly to help our patients address a wide array of foot health issues. When it comes to your feet, ingrown toenails are the number #1 foot issue that our patients suffer from everyday. So what causes an ingrown toenail and the how exactly do they develop?

Causes

Due to the relative ease involved in developing a ingrown toenail, it' is very common for people to develop this foot health issue. Some of the most common causes of an ingrown toenail include but are not limited to:

  • Injuring your toenail

  • Wearing shoes that crowd your toenails

  • Cutting your toenails too short or not straight across

  • Having unusually curved toenails

An ingrown toenail can develop from essentially low to high pressure on the toenail. Once an ingrown toenail develops, it is very easy to spot its symptoms. The symptoms associated with an ingrown toenail include the following:

  • Redness around your toenail

  • Pain and tenderness in your toe along one or both sides of the nail

  • Swelling of your toe around the nail

  • Infection of the tissue around your toenail

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Left untreated or undetected, an ingrown toenail can infect the underlying bone and lead to a serious bone infection.

Complications can be especially severe if you have diabetes, which can cause poor blood flow and damage nerves in your feet. So a minor foot injury — a cut, scrape, corn, callus or ingrown toenail — may not heal properly and become infected. A difficult-to-heal open sore such as a foot ulcer may require surgery to prevent the decay and death of tissue such as gangrene. Gangrene results from an interruption in blood flow to an area of your body.

Do you have any questions or concerns about Ingrown Toenails? If so, click here to set up an appointment with our team at River Podiatry.  






Jungwoo HanRiver Podiatry