Ingrown Toenail Home Treatment

Learn how to prevent and treat an ingrown toenail without visiting a specialist in podiatry.

We have an ingrown toenail when part of a toenail grows or bends down into the flesh of the finger, causing pain, inflammation or swelling and redness.
It can happen on any toes, but it is much more common to happen in the big toe.

Causes of Ingrown Toenails

• Incorrect cutting of nails, you should cut the nail straight and not rounded.
• Use of very tight shoes or high heels.
• Abnormal growth of the toes.
• Poor hygiene in the foot.
• Traumatic injuries in the fingers due to repeated practice of sport or other.

Symptoms of Ingrown Toenails

• Pain in the toe.
• Redness on the sides of the nail.
• Swelling around the nail.
• Increased sensitivity around the nail.
• Inflammation and in some cases more serious infection

There are people who have a higher risk of developing ingrown toenails as people with arthritis, people with immune system deficiencies, people with cancer (tumors), obese people and people with circulatory disorders.

How to treat an ingrown toenail?

There are several treatments for ingrown toenails, always using natural products, among them we recommend the following:

• Place a garlic clove in the ingrown toenail, posting it with tape. Place overnight.
• Grind a bit of onion and put in the ingrown toenail.
• Insert foot in a tub with warm salt water for 15 minutes and then protect the affected finger with a cloth at night.
• Try gently pushing the skin out of the nail.
• Cut a lemon and cut a hole in the middle so as to be able to enter the ingrown toenail. Leave the finger inside the lemon for 20 minutes.

How to prevent ingrown toenails?

• The most important tip to prevent ingrown toenails is to cut the nail straight across and not oval.
• The shoe should have enough room for the toes. Always avoid narrow tip shoes. As for high heels must measure up to 2.5 cm.
• At home always wear sandals or slippers, try to avoid wearing shoes.
• If you have diabetes you must visit a doctor promptly at the first sign of an ingrown toenail.