Surgical therapy of ingrown nails

Ingrown nails are one of the most common nail problems. Mostly the big toes are affected. The lateral nail edge presses deeply into the surrounding tissue and causes pain. Injury to the skin can also cause bacteria to enter the skin and cause infection.
Causes are usually too tight shoes or wrong nail cutting. However, there are also inherited curvatures of nails such as the crooked nail.

Ingrown toenails do not have to be treated as long as they do not cause any discomfort. If there is only a slight curvature, a nail clip applied by podiatrists can be promising. If the skin around the nail is inflamed or infected, anti-inflammatory pain killers, disinfecting foot baths, antibiotic creams or, if necessary, antibiotic tablets are used.

If these measures do not lead to long-term success and the skin is always inflamed or there is permanent pressure pain, the operation is indicated.

During the operation, so-called phenolization, a small strip of nail is removed after local anaesthesia of the toe and the place where the nail is formed is sclerosed with an alcohol (phenol) so that the nail cannot grow back again at this point.

The advantage of this method is the cosmetic result and the lower recurrence rate, in contrast to the still widespread excision.