Self Care For Ingrown Toenails

So you have an ingrown toenail?

And you don't exactly want to seek out your health care provider first.

Well there are a few tips for self-care for ingrown toenails that you can try to see if it alleviates some of the pain and redness associated with the ingrown toenail before you see your physician.

However, it is important to remember if you are a diabetic or if you have peripheral vascular disease or even if you have any other sort of nerve condition that limits the feeling in your feet, then you must not delay and you must see your health care to physician first.

If you have these health conditions you should not attempt self-care for ingrown toenails.

But if you have relatively good health and you feel up to trying to tackle some of the self-care for ingrown toenails, then let's get to it. A successful home treatment of your ingrown nail may prevent the need for surgery.

One of the first things that you can do for your ingrown toenail is to wash your foot twice a day. Pay close attention to the affected area.

Wash the area gently with soap and water and then dry thoroughly. During the remainder of the day to make sure that you keep your foot clean and dry.

Self-care for ingrown toenails that often feels the best is to soak your foot in warm water at least four times a day. There is no need to add any antibacterial agents or even any soap to the soaking water. Soak your foot for approximately 20 minutes.

When selecting your footwear for the day it is important to remember to avoid tight fitting shoes. It is also important to avoid high heel shoes or those with a narrow toe box. You might also consider wearing open toe sandals especially if you are having a lot of pain with your ingrown toenail.

One of the most important aspects of ingrown toenail self-care is to try to lift up the corner of the toenail that is digging its way into the skin.

Take a very tiny piece of cotton or gauze and roll it between your fingers to form a wick or small roll. Then place the roll between the toenail and the skin to keep it elevated and to keep it from continuing to dig into the delicate skin area.

There is just no way around it. This is incredibly painful.

But this is also the most important part of self-care for ingrown toenails. This home treatment can help you to avoid surgery. After every 20 minutes that you spend soaking your toe and after drying your feet thoroughly try to push the roll in a little farther each and every time.

Home care therapies for ingrown toenails may also include the use of pain relievers such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen.

If the pain relievers and the self-care for ingrown toenails have not helped you to see improvement after 72 hours, then it will be necessary for you to contact your health care provider to get the medical assistance that you need. You do not want to ignore an ingrown toenail as it can progress into an infection.

Self-care for ingrown toenails is easy to do and not that time-consuming.

But if you choose to ignore the ingrown toenail you are asking for further complications down the road.

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