Performing Surgery on myself (kinda)

I've had an ingrown toenail for a few days now. Originally we thought we had gotten it all because the pain stopped, but it came back like no other and it has been hard for me to walk these past two days. My mother said she would dig it out when she brought home some lidocane (sp) a numbing agent, because she said the pain of going in and digging the nail out would be too painful. Well I haven't been over there and tonight I decided to do it myself, without lidocane. I got a pair of tweesers and a pair of small scissors and went to town on my toe.

Anyone else ever have a really bad ingrown? How did you get rid of it? Also, any tips on how to prevent one. This was really really painful and I'd rather not go through it again.

The only way I know to prevent them is to trim your nails in a manner that they wont grow that way. So that means no picking at them if that's a habit of yours, b/c thats how most in-growns are caused.

I know, I've done that same procedure on myself before! LOL

*cringing... feeling dizzy... passes out*

Well it hurt like heck but I think its all out now. If its not, I'm off to see my mother tomorrow and hope she brought the numbing stuff. The toe already feels better. Its a horrible hack job though. I'll get my fiance to clean it up nice and neat tomorrow afternoon.

I do tend to pick at my nails. Its a horrible habit and I need to stop. Maybe I'll do what I'm doing to my fiance to make her stop picking at the edges of her fingers. Put tape on them! My toe is still throbbing, but hopefully that's the pressure leaving the toe.

I'd done the same thing more times than I care to remember. I finally went to a podiatrist, who performed some minor surgery (it's been years, I don't remember exaclty what was done) and I've been free of the problem since. I do remember a large pair of scissor-looking things...

i'm the king of ingrowns..............and you are insane! no way can i dig them out myself....i go to the podiatrist.....we know each other on a first name basis ........my whole family makes fun of my feet...................not my best feature!


but i know all about the pain your experiencing......i've worked before all day with them, and i don't sit in an office, im up and down telephone poles all day....imagine that pain!

When I had mine done in hospital ( I'm such a girl - apparently :eek: ) they removed a slice of the nailbed down each side of the toe after ripping the existing nail off with what looked like pliers. I got to sit up and watch as long as I promised not to flinch or kick them.:)


dr del

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Originally Posted by dr del

When I had mine done in hospital ( I'm such a girl - apparently :eek: ) they removed a slice of the nailbed down each side of the toe after ripping the existing nail off with what looked like pliers. I got to sit up and watch as long as I promised not to flinch or kick them.:)


dr del

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thats how they remove them......................they numb you with like 5 or 6 needles ............trust me, in the past 2 years i have had about 5 of them.........it got so bad with me that they put acid in there so the nail would not grow back.............working like a charm so far..................i feel like a freak talking about this :confused:

my husband gets ingrown toenails really bad too. he's had them removed on both big toes several times by a podiatrist, by his dad, by himself, etc. they have been better since the podiatrist started doing it because he did remove a nice slice of the nail from each toe to help them from coming back. i gotta admit--seeing this done several times, i'm quite glad it's not something i have problems with!

I removed my own once using an exacto knife and a tweezer hurt like H@*&. I also once knew a girl who had her big toe nails comletely removed surgicaly in a manner that they will never grow back. Her feet look realy wierd :snake:

I've never had one, as I'm a big fan of trimming my nails good, but in junior high I went with a friend who had some bad ones and the podiatrist cut his nails and dug them out or whatever. She showed him how to cut them so it wouoldn't happen again. Just cut them really good and often.

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Originally Posted by PythonWallace

I've never had one, as I'm a big fan of trimming my nails good, but in junior high I went with a friend who had some bad ones and the podiatrist cut his nails and dug them out or whatever. She showed him how to cut them so it wouoldn't happen again. Just cut them really good and often.

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i was told by my podiatrist that, some people are just a prone to having them.......for example there is no right way for me to cut my nails to prevent them from happening! i guess i have feet like this guy =======> :taz:

I had a girlfriend who was prone to really bad ingrowns...not just on her big toes, but on any toe. Eventually, she had surgery to permanently remove ALL her toenails. Icky stuff!

Yea, digging that thing out definatly hurt. The toe doesn't hurt near as much as it did yesterday, and I have to press on the toe to get any pain. I can walk again! I'll probably have to have someone go in and clean it up nicer because I did a horrible job. But let me tell you, getting that piece out was the most painful thing I've had to experience all year. It was a pointed piece digging into the side of my toe. Talk about pain. But once I had it up and out of there, the toe felt much better. I'm going to keep ice on the toe for the next few hours to get the swelling and redness down. I feel soooooo much better. And yes I am insane.

Soak it in saltwater, might take the soreness out.
I'm prone to them too. I just cut them out really often before they become a problem. I htought about going in to have the doctor fix them, but after reading the accounts here... I don't THINK SO!! AAAHHHH!!!!
Wolfy

My father gets them A LOT. I know he normally just goes to the Dr and gets them taken care of. This past last one he bought some kind of med at like Target and said it's been helping. If it will clear it up I don't know but he's able to walk again on that foot without limping.

Ack! Do you actually remove the whole nail? Mark had a nail that fell off after one of the horses stepped on his toe.. I have an abscess under one of my fingernails fro, months ago when I slammed it in our truck door; now there's a little space under my nail that dirt gets caught in.. argh! But it is sloooowly growing out..
Now, has anyone gotten athlete's foot? I am getting over it for the second time in 2 years; that lotrimin powder spray is THE stuff to get; kills the stuff! THAT is an itch though!! The spray causes severe pain but kills it dead. I only ever got it between two certain toes, same spot this time also.

I didn't remove my nail, but some people have to in order to prevent a repeat problem.

There was only one time I ever lost a toenail. I was walking from the dining room into the kitchen and there was a metal piece that seperated the carpet from the tiles of the kitchen. Well lucky me, my toe hits part of it that was sticking up and it hurt like :mad: :mad: :mad: :O :O :O :taz: :taz: :taz: :irkd: :irkd: :irkd: :angered: :angered: :crying: :crying:

Well anyway, it throbbed and throbbed and the nail began to turn blue. And we are talking BLUE. My mom took me to the doctor the next day (couldn't sleep because of the pain) and they stuck a needle under the nail. BOOM, the blue turned red in a split second. All that blue was blood that wasn't exposed to oxygen and had been building up under the toe. It drained out and was an instant relief. A few days later the nail popped off and regrew. I found it all to be very interesting, but painful to begin with.

I just cut down the side of the nail, yank!! Then cuss like hell as I dance around. :taz: :taz: :taz: Then I'm fine for a month or two!

when my (now) husband and i were dating he got a really bad ingrown toenail right before his birthday. i came home one night to find him soaking his nasty, puss-filled toe in the brand new cake pan i had just bought to bake him a birthday cake in. (it was just the right size!) needless to say, he had a nice cake from the publix bakery that year. :grabbed:

Hahaha. That must have been priceless. I didn't soak mine, but the swelling and redness is going down. Its still a little tender, but I CAN WALK! I was so excited to wake up this morning and was able to walk without pain. :carrot: