What are ingrown toenails, and how can I avoid them? | Well actually

TI never have the right time to have an embodied nail. But navigate in spring and summer with a can be particularly difficult, with warmer weather calling for open shoes and more exposure to elements. Contact with dirt or the ocean can allow bacteria to enter the skin near an embodied nail, causing an infection, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

I should know: over the years, I have managed recurrent embodied nails, which occur when the edge of a nail turns into neighboring skin, causing inflammation and pain. Twenty percent of people who see a doctor for foot problems have the condition, according to the National Institute of Health.

Even if the embodied nails are common, they can feel embarrassing. The usual answer when I tell someone I have a wrinkled nose and the hypothesis that my feet looks tiny. This is not the case – generally, they seem a little red and inflamed (although if they are infected, as mine did once when I delayed to see a doctor for more than a week, it can be disgusting).

There are effective ways to manage the condition. Here’s what experts say.

Which causes embodied nails

The nail cutting incorrectly is one of the most common causes. Many people follow the curved line of the whites of their nails, but cutting up is better, explains Dr. Shital Sharma, DPM, podiatrist and feet and ankle surgeon at New York Sports and Joints. The more the corners of a nail are cut, the more the nail curled up in the surrounding skin instead of lying flat, potentially causing an embodied nail.

Cutting the too short or too rounded nail can create a fragment of unleashing nail. This fragment can dig into the skin as the nail grows. “When you lean to cut your nails instead of cutting yourself off for yourself, you sometimes don’t notice that you are missing a nail fragment at the corner,” explains Dr. Joshua Hollinger, DPM, podiatrist at Rothman OrthopeDics.

Another common cause. The narrow toe boxes apply constant pressure on the interior and exterior corners of the nails, which can cause the skin of the nail, explains Sharma.

In other cases, inheritance is to be blamed. “I saw whole families with embodied nails,” explains Hollinger. In addition, individuals with onions often have embodied nails because as the big toe is displayed towards the second toe, it applies more pressure to the inside of the nail. People with flat foot, fungal nails and dystrophic – or thickened nails are also predisposed.

How to prevent embodied nails

An easy way to protect your toes is to let the nail develop slightly beyond the tip of your toe, then cut directly without rounding the edges, explains Dr Don Pelto, DPM, podiatrist in the center of Massachusetts podiatry and author of the healthy life guide for insane nails. The cut every three to four weeks is a good general practice, but it will vary for each individual.

Sharma recommends wearing wider shoes that give your room toes and avoid pedicures, which may involve the sides of your nails aggressively. If you get a pedicure, ask that your nails be cut directly to avoid problems.

For athletes who wear crampons, note that they have a break -in period. “This is when I see a lot of embodied nails,” she adds. “So don’t throw away your old crampons – go back and forth between them [and] New crampons. “”

If heredity causes your problems, it’s more difficult. Some people opt for a partial matrices, where a doctor removes a small side part of the nail and applies a chemical to the root of the nails to prevent it from returning. This usually takes two to three weeks to heal, says Hollinger.

This procedure can be particularly useful for people with embodied nails, like me. Last spring, after weeks of pain and an infection that my podiatrist said was too deep in the root of the nails for antibiotics to be treated, she made a partial matrices. I haven’t had any problems since. Consult your podiatrist to discuss if it is a measure appropriate for you.

How to take care of embodied nails

There are ways to take care of an embodied nail at home. Sharma suggests soaking your foot for 15 minutes in hot water with Epsom salts or table salt. “The soaking helps reduce inflammation and soften the nail so that it is easier to cut,” says Sharma. Although this is not a remedy, you can also use a moisturizing and protective ointment such as aquaphore to soften the skin and hard nails and reduce some discomfort, she adds.

I never travel without some, in case I have an escape. And if my toes feel painful after wearing tight shoes, like high heels, I immediately start to dip my feet and apply the aquaphore.

Watch your nails as soon as you start to feel discomfort, says Sharma. Taking photos can be useful as the condition progresses, to build a calendar for your health care provider that can help you determine what could have triggered the problem and how fast it worsens.

Take care if you are going to swim. “Chlorinated swimming pools have chemicals that fight bacteria in water, so I’m less concerned with people swimming in a swimming pool with an embodied nail,” said Hollinger. “But I saw unpleasant ocean infections if people swim when their skin is broken.” If you feel redness, drainage or swelling, it does not recommend swimming in the ocean or a lake.

Redness and drainage are signs of possible infection, and it is best to see a podiatrist. However, do not wait until these symptoms visit a doctor. “Go there as soon as you notice pain and persistent discomfort when you walk or make your daily routine,” said Hollinger. Sometimes a podiatrist can simply cut the criminal nail to relieve the problem. But “if you wait for it to worsen, we could limit ourselves to making a partial matrices.”

Another possible treatment is the partial avulsion of the nails, which eliminates the embodied part without dissolving the nails root. The nail should repel in eight to 12 months, says Hollinger. Complete nail avulsion is rare and generally used only when the two nail edges are embodied, says Pelto.

Follow your podiatrist’s instructions for follow -up if they make a partially nail or a matrices. Pelto recommends daily soaking with Epsom salts or iodine if sterilization is necessary. Then apply the neosporine, wear flip flops or wide sneakers and keep the toe wrapped in gauze or bandage for several days, he says.

The embodied nails may not be the most glamorous condition, but it is certainly manageable.

• Jacqueline Lekachman is a writer based in New York who covers the family, sex and all the other things that stand up in the evening for the Washington Post, the health of women, the HuffPost, and more