How to get rid of an ingrown toenail in a child

How to Treat Ingrown Toenails in Children

in Podiatry

September 20, 2019

Tagged With: ingrown toenail, ingrown toenail pain, ingrown toenail treatment, podiatrist near me, podiatrist San Antonio

An ingrown toenail occurs when the edges or corners of a toenail grow into the surrounding skin. While it may seem like a minor injury, it can result in redness, swelling, and pain. Typically, an ingrown toenail will grow out on its own. However, in some cases, an ingrown nail can cause significant pain or an infection.

There are some home remedies you can use to control symptoms such as pain. Listed below are the most common ways to treat an ingrown toenail.

In order to prevent an infection from developing, we recommend you seek the help of a doctor. Before using any of these ideas, it’s best to consult with a podiatrist. A podiatrist will ensure you pick the right treatment and that your child’s ingrown toenail is dealt with in a safe and effective manner.

Medicine

To control pain symptoms, use over-the-counter pain relievers. Some examples include naproxen sodium (Aleve), acetaminophen (Tylenol), or ibuprofen (Motrin IB and Advil). Make sure your child doesn’t exceed the daily recommended amount.

Your doctor may be able to prescribe medicine to treat or lower the risk of infection. Signs of infection include:

Foul odor
Increased swelling
Presence of pus
Warmth around the affected toe
Increased redness and pain

Soak in Warm Water

Soak your child’s affected foot in warm water for about 20 minutes – 3 to 4 times per day. You may also add Epsom salts or castile soap to the water to provide additional relief. This remedy will relieve tenderness and reduce swelling.

Toe Protector

A toe protector provides a cushioning barrier around the ingrown toenail so external factors won’t be able to bother it. This instrument looks like a ring and fits around the affected area so neighboring toes can’t bump against the affected area. Some toe protectors come with a medicated gel that softens the nail, making it easier to trim.

Wear Comfortable Footwear

Wearing shoes that push on your child’s toes can cause further irritation and pain to an ingrown toenail. Compressed and pinched toenails have a higher risk of piercing through surrounding skin, which can be painful. While it’s acceptable to wear shoes and socks, make sure the footwear fits comfortably and gives ample space to the toes. Go for sandals or open toe shoes when possible.

Podiatry Care in Southern Texas

Most ingrown toenails are treatable by home remedies. However, it’s always best to be safe and get a doctor to check it out. A podiatrist will be able to assess if your child has an infection or the ingrown toenail needs to be treated professionally. Having a trained and experienced podiatrist by your side can save your child from unnecessary pain and discomfort as well as make the treatment of the ingrown toenail much easier.

If your child have an ingrown toenail and you want to have an experienced doctor check it out, contact the experts at The Podiatry Group of South Texas. Our physicians have decades of experience and will give your child top-notch medical care using the best treatments available. To make an appointment, call us at (210) 227-8700 or set an appointment online.

Toenail - Ingrown

Is this your child's symptom?

The corner of the toenail grows into the skin around it
Almost always involves the big toe (great toe)

Symptoms of an Ingrown Toenail

Toe pain from sharp corner of toenail cutting into surrounding skin.
Redness and swelling around the corner of the toenail is usually present.
The area may drain pus or yellow fluid.
The red area is very tender to touch or pressure from a shoe.
Some teens with an ingrown toenail can barely walk.

Cause of an Ingrown Toenail

The toenail is usually pushed into the skin by wearing tight shoes.
The tiny cut made by the nail allows bacteria to enter the skin. The cut then becomes infected.
The sharp corner of buried nail keeps growing. The deeper it goes, the more painful it becomes.

When to Call for Toenail - Ingrown

Call 911 Now

You think your child has a life-threatening emergency

Call Doctor or Seek Care Now

Spreading red area or streak with fever
Spreading red area or streak that's very large
Severe pain not improved 2 hours after pain medicine and antibiotic ointment
Your child looks or acts very sick
You think your child needs to be seen, and the problem is urgent

Contact Doctor Within 24 Hours

Spreading red area or streak, but no fever
Entire toe is red and swollen
Pus pocket (yellow or green) seen in skin around toenail or under toenail. Reason: needs to be drained.
You think your child needs to be seen, but the problem is not urgent

Contact Doctor During Office Hours

Can't locate and free up corner of toenail
After using Care Advice more than 2 days, pus discharge not gone
After using Care Advice more than 3 days, still hard to walk
After using Care Advice more than 7 days, not improved
After using Care Advice more than 14 days, not gone
Ingrown toenails are a frequent problem
You have other questions or concerns

Self Care at Home

Minor ingrown toenail

Seattle Children's Urgent Care Locations

If your child’s illness or injury is life-threatening, call 911.

Bellevue
Everett
Federal Way
Seattle

Care Advice for Ingrown Toenail

What You Should Know About Ingrown Toenails:
- Ingrown toenails are always painful.
- Pain is caused by the sharp toenail edge cutting into the skin around it.
- The pain can be stopped. Find the toenail corner and lift it out of the raw tissue.
- This will allow the area to heal.
- Most ingrown toenails can be treated at home. Surgery or nail removal is rarely needed.
- Here is some care advice that should help.
Warm Soaks:
- Soak the toe in warm water and soap for 20 minutes twice a day.
- While soaking, massage the swollen part of the cuticle (skin next to the nail). Massage away from the nail.
- While soaking, also try to bend the corners of the toenail upward. Use your fingernail to lift it.
- Dry the toe and foot completely.
Elevate Corner of Toenail with Dental Floss:
- Goal: to help the toenail corner grow over the cuticle, rather than into it.
- The area won't heal until you expose the corner.
- Often you can lift it with your fingernail.
- If not, take a short strip of dental floss or fishing line. Try to slip it under the corner of the nail. Then, lift the nail upward. Cut off any sharp edge.
- Take a small wedge of cotton from a cotton ball. Try to place the wedge under the nail corner to keep it elevated. (Sometimes this step is impossible).
- Elevate the corner away from the cuticle with every soak.
Antibiotic Ointment:
- After each soak, use an antibiotic ointment (such as Polysporin). Put it on the swollen part of the toe.
- You can buy this ointment without a prescription.
Taking Pressure Off Toenail with a Foam Pad or Cotton Ball:
- Until it heals, try to wear sandals or go barefoot.
- When your child must wear closed shoes protect the ingrown toenail as follows:
- Inner Edge of Toe. If the inner edge of the big toe is involved, try this technique. Tape a cotton ball or foam pad between the lower part of the first and second toes. This will keep the upper toes from touching.
- Outer Edge of Toe. If the outer edge is involved, use a cotton ball. Tape it to the outside of the lower toe.
- This will keep the toenail from touching the side of the shoe.
- Weather-stripping from a hardware store makes the best foam pad. Reason: has adhesive on one side.
- Never wear tight, narrow, or pointed shoes.
Pain Medicine:
- To help with the pain, give an acetaminophen product (such as Tylenol).
- Another choice is an ibuprofen product (such as Advil).
- Use as needed.
Prevention - Nail Trimming:
- Cut your child's toenails straight across so you can see the corners. Use a nail clipper.
- Do not round off corners. Keep the corners visible.
- Do not cut them too short.
- After baths or showers, the nails are soft. Bend the corners of the toenails upward.
Prevention - Wear Shoes That Fit:
- Make sure that your child's shoes are not too narrow. Give away any pointed or tight shoes.
- Tight narrow shoes are the most common cause of ingrown toenails.
- Shoes should have a wide toe box. The toes should not feel cramped.
What to Expect:
- With treatment, the pus should be gone in 48 hours.
- Pain should be gone in 1 week.
- Area should be healed up in 2 weeks.
Call Your Doctor If:
- Spreading redness or fever occur
- Pus pocket occurs
- Not improved after 7 days
- You think your child needs to be seen
- Your child becomes worse

And remember, contact your doctor if your child develops any of the 'Call Your Doctor' symptoms.

Disclaimer: this health information is for educational purposes only. You, the reader, assume full responsibility for how you choose to use it.

Last Reviewed: 12/02/2022

Last Revised: 01/13/2022

Ingrown toenail in a child: causes and treatment

The problem of ingrown nails is widespread in all age categories. In this article, we will analyze the main causes of its occurrence and the features of the development of the disease in children. In modern medicine, the ingrowth of the nail plate into the lateral ridge is called onychocryptosis.

The nail plates on the feet or hands are normally surrounded by ridges, the free edge grows over the ridge without causing discomfort. But for a number of reasons, it happens that the direction of growth of the nail plate changes, causing discomfort or pain. The nail is deformed, rests against the lateral roller, damaging the soft tissues and causing inflammation.

Causes of ingrown nails in children

Onychocryptosis is common in both newborns and adolescents. The main causes of ingrownness will differ depending on the age category: so babies constantly keep their fingers in their mouths, bite them during teething, or squeeze them with their gums. This entails injury to the nail plates or a violation of their growth.

When a child begins to crawl and actively explore the world around him, he may injure his fingers or nails with foreign objects. Nails bend, break, can be pressed down.

Other causes of ingrown nails in preschool children include improper footwear or hosiery, nail clipping mistakes, infections, orthopedic problems. Let's take a closer look at each of them.

One of the most common causes of ingrown toenails is shoes that are the wrong size or shoes that are too tight. Most often, ingrowth occurs on the first toes of the feet. Onychocryptosis develops on the outside of the foot, where the big toe rests against the shoe and a point of excessive pressure forms. It is difficult to choose shoes for a baby, because a child cannot yet appreciate the comfort of shoes and fully describe their feelings. If while wearing a pair of shoes you notice chafing, redness or calluses, then this is an alarming sign!
Often the edges of the nail plate begin to deform due to improper care. Trimming nails for kids under 4 years old is quite difficult. One awkward move by mom during a manicure or pedicure can change the direction of nail growth, and this will lead to onychocryptosis. The nail plates on the hands should be slightly rounded, and on the feet they should be trimmed at right angles.
Ingrown toenails can be caused by individual structural features of the nail apparatus, nail bed, thickened lateral ridges, hyperhidrosis, or deformities of the toes.
Onychocryptosis is also associated with certain disorders of the musculoskeletal system: flat feet or hallux valgus, when the feet fall inward. With this position of the feet, the weight of the body is distributed unevenly. The main load will fall on the inner arch and the first fingers.
It can also cause excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis), which occurs in adolescents. At the same time, the skin of the lateral roller becomes thin, loose, and at the slightest pressure of the nail plate, the skin is disturbed.
Injuries, bruises and other injuries lead to the fact that the nail plate can change its structure and direction of growth.

Symptoms of an ingrown toenail

Signs of an ingrown toenail in a child are the same as in adults:

pain or discomfort in the area of the lateral ridges;
inflammation;
swelling and redness.

Pain worse when pressed. Children can be naughty, refuse to put on shoes, limp when trying to walk.

If there is an infection, then a purulent abscess is formed. Perhaps even an increase in temperature. This condition requires immediate help!

Stages of the disease

Doctors today distinguish three stages of ingrowth:

First. There is a slight swelling, discomfort when pressing on the finger.
Second. There are signs of inflammation. The skin begins to redden, the temperature of the skin in the ingrown area rises. The child experiences pain when wearing shoes.
Third. Inflammatory process, severe pain increases, suppuration appears. Perhaps the formation of granulations.

If a child has started to grow a nail, then the most correct decision is to consult a doctor!

Do not try to cut the ingrown nail yourself, it will only make it worse! Such manipulations will not eliminate the problem, which means a relapse is possible.

Ingrown nails should be kept dry. The affected area can be treated with antiseptic solutions.

Methods of treatment of ingrown toenails in children

Conservative methods of treatment will help with the first and second stages of ingrown nails.

Let's talk about the main methods.

1. Plugging, insertion of a small piece of thin material (capolin) or sterile gauze between the nail and the side roller. With tamponade, it will be possible to take a shower and lead an active lifestyle.

2. Application of corrective systems. Glue or hook systems raise the ingrown edge, reduce pressure on the side roll. This procedure is painless, it will reduce pain and will correct the growth of the nail plate.

During the treatment of an ingrown toenail, it is important that the toe remains at rest and does not need to be loaded. It is necessary to exclude closed narrow shoes.

Disease prevention

Proper home care will help you and your child avoid ingrown hairs:

Trim the free edge with scissors with rounded ends.
The edges of the toenails must be smooth without rounding, but also without sharp corners. Nails should be trimmed once every two weeks;
For a child, choose loose, correct shoes in which the first toe will not rest against the front;
The child must strictly follow the rules of hand and foot hygiene!

If you have any questions or need help from a podiatrist, make an appointment with our clinic by phone +7(495) 120-67-80 or via What’s App.

Ingrown nail (onychocryptosis) in children. Causes, symptoms, treatment. – health articles

11/10/2022

Onychocryptosis sometimes occurs in children. This term refers to an ingrown nail in a child, which occurs due to the pathology of the growth of the nail plate.

Causes and symptoms

There are several reasons for an ingrown nail in a child:

a genetic factor (very rare), in which the nail grows in width, cutting into the skin of the nail fold. Other variants of congenital pathology are a thickened nail fold, curvature of the nail plate. With all these pathologies, removal is necessary;
improper care, when the child's nails are cut round, and the free side corners cut into the skin;
Incorrectly fitting shoes - wrong size or with a pointed toe. In this case, the edges of the nails tuck, deform and grow;
diseases - fungal nail infections, beriberi, rickets;
injuries;
foot disorders - clubfoot or flat feet.

Most often, an ingrown toenail occurs on the big toe. it is most exposed to mechanical irritation and friction, injuries. But fingernails can also grow in.

Regardless of the location or cause, the mechanism of occurrence of an ingrown nail is the same: the nails in children gradually begin to cut into the skin. Symptoms appear: at first, pain, which becomes more intense. Then there is swelling and redness. Subsequently, an inflammatory process develops: ulcers with purulent discharge are formed. In response to inflammation on the thumb, there is an overgrowth of granulation tissue called "wild meat".

Treatment

An ingrown nail in a child was previously treated only by surgery: it was removed. This method of treatment is recognized as ineffective, tk. after it, very often there can be a relapse, or repeated ingrowth, when the nails on the thumb begin to grow. Removal entails a long recovery period, which is also a disadvantage. Therefore, now it is used only for congenital pathologies or traumatic injuries.

Modern surgical treatment is carried out in a gentle way and is reduced to the careful removal of the edge of the ingrown nail. And the defect of the nail fold is closed with a flap of skin taken from the pad of the same finger. Complete healing occurs in 15-20 days. The operation for children under 10 years old is performed under general anesthesia, over 10 years old - under local anesthesia.

Ingrown toenails can also be treated with a laser. In this case, there is also the removal, or evaporation, of the nail plate and roller, only with a carbon dioxide laser. At the same time, the laser beam "welds" the vessels, thereby avoiding blood loss. Also, if you treat an ingrown nail with a laser, the recovery period is reduced. Other advantages of this type of treatment are: low traumatism, a small number of relapses, painlessness.

Another sparing method is radio wave treatment, in which the effect is also less traumatic and painless. The recovery period lasts 3-4 days.

For uncomplicated ingrown toenails, the doctor may try to treat the child with corrective staples or plates. They are installed on the ingrown nail for a long time. The effect is due to the fact that these devices raise the nails, thereby preventing further ingrowth. As a result, inflammation, swelling, pain are removed, and the nails acquire their original shape. The use of these designs for children can be from 5 years of age.

In the presence of inflammation and pus, it is necessary to treat the child with antibacterial agents.