Just get the surgery done. The needles did hurt like a SOB, but it was 30 years ago, both big toes, and I’ve never had a problem since.
Toe nails follow the toe bones.
Nails grow wrong = bad bones. ( really stupid shoes are your own fault )
Getting them to grow out past the toes flesh is OK but not ideal IMO.
I have had both my great toe nails totally removed. Never have to mess with much less trim them ever again.
I did not see anyone mention that the doctors got Xrays & a few docs apparently Micky Moused the nail beds too. Got to use acid to really kill the nail bed.
Also, plus 237 on things get a lot tougher as you get older. Reduced bending ability, worse eye sight, nails thicken up, easier to damage your feet & the old bones there in.
Don’t wait, get them fixed early.
YTMV
Had that done on both sides of both big toes. That was about 20 years ago and I’ve not had any problems since.
It is amazing how we don’t realize how much we drop on our big toe until we remove an ingrown nail. First thing this morning my sledge hammer bounced off the wedge and hit me right in the toe, 30 min later a log fell on my toe. I know I am too old to cry but I am going to cry anyway. I just remembered I still have my steel toed boots, yes!!
Go to a podiatrist. It will be well worth it.
I think I will do that.
Good, good. Seeing a podiatrist is the way to go. I’ve had a few ingrown toenails over the past 20+ years and after the podiatrist took care of them, they were never a problem again. The remaining nail looks normal, too- it just has a visible edge along where it used to disappear down into the skin.
A lot of podiatrists cauterize the root of the nail with a chemical (phenol was noted upthread), but the guy I went to used a laser. Which was totally cooler.
This. Is how you become tough as nails.
I used to have them very bad as a teenager. My doctor tried many things, from cutting them off in the hope that they would grow back correctly, to using some yellow stuff to kill back the skin. Nothing worked permanently.
Finally, when I was on my own, the last couple of times (once on each foot) I stuffed surgical cotton between the nail and the skin, taking it out every couple of days and re-applying. Eventually the pointy part of the nail grew out and also somehow this strengthened or stiffened the skin in that area so that it didn’t get ingrown. I haven’t had one since. My nail still tends to grow too far sideways, but I can trim it and it doesn’t get infected any more.
Of course, now you apparently can’t buy surgical cotton at a drugstore anymore. Maybe you can still get it online. I suppose you could use gauze or somethng, but cotton was easier to use.
I’ve had ingrown nails removed from both of my big toes, twice.
Whatever you do - do something*. My great-grandfather died of an infected ingrown toenail. No lie. That’s unlikely to happen these days in the Antibiotic Age, but ingrown toenails aren’t just painful, they can actually be harmful.
*I do twice monthly pedicures, with a positively ancient Vietnamese lady who doesn’t speak much English beyond, “Bettah? Bettah now?” as she pokes the corners of my toes. This keeps me out of the podiatrist’s office at 1/4 the price. But I do have to keep up with it, or things go ouchy.
I agree with the “go to a pediatrist” advice. Podiatrists have 2 procedures they can do (at least that’s what mine told me):
- Done with local anesthetic, they cut the nail and maybe apply phenol to the nail bed.
The other solution is the nuclear option:
- Remove the entire nail and the entire nail bed. In my case, this was done under general anesthesia. (I asked the Dr. what would happen if I said I’d like to do it under local. His answer: “I’d tell you to go to a different podiatrist”.
I had struggled with ingrown toenails my entire life, and had 1) done several times without success. So I did 2) and haven’t really had problems since (going on about 5 years now).
Surprisingly, something DID kind of grow back where my toenail was. It feels something like nail, but doesn’t grow in such a way that I can cut it.
J.
A competent physician will remove the germinal matrix at the border and this creates a narrower nail less likely to become ingrown again.
A digital block is not fantastically painful and if you are going to surgically fix an ingrown nail you might as well take out the edge of the germinal matrix along with the nail border.
My 2c, having done this simple procedure on many a patient over the years.
So had I, until I got my first ingrown toenail at age 59. The urgent care doc who fixed my nail told me I’d need to cut it straight from then on. I still trim the rest of my nails rounded, but I trim the formerly ingrown one straight so that it doesn’t get ingrown again.
Saturday morning, I noticed the outside corner of my left big toenail was starting to get ingrown again so I tried to encourage it to grow above the skin. I ended up peeling off practically the whole thing!
I’ve lost most of that nail before when the same corner snagged on a couch. This time, the nail was still thick from a fungus that had been treated. All that’s left is a thin surface layer and a line of dried blood.
Cutting straight across:
Pros:
Does not dig into the flesh with a pointed section = pain.
Cons:
Still curves.
Snags on everything.
Death on pantyhose.
Snags on bed covers.
Sex partners can become grumpy. (this is the important one IMO. )
No brainer…
Time for lunch! :D:D
I had mine done a couple of years ago by my podiatrist’s assistant, and am due for another very soon.
I won’t make the same mistake as last time, by watching the procedure, and screaming that the lady was cutting way too much off. Turn’s out, she knew exactly what she was doing.
Saw my podiatrist three weeks ago and we decided that I’m better off without that nail. It was permanently removed Wednesday morning.
I’ve has seven surgeries split between my two big toes and one one the second (middle) toe.
My right big toe nail no longer exists as a result. But yeah, totally worth it in my opinion, I just wish I didn’t have to go through so many surgeries (over several years of course) to get there.
Interestingly enough, my lack of a toe nail on my right foot makes an interesting conversation starter at pool parties. 
(I’m not kidding, it really does. You’d think people would be grossed out by that sort of thing.)