Involuted nails....Oucha

We see various types of nails. This nail is what we call in Podiatry an Involuted Toenail. As you can see from the first picture, there is a curvature in the nail. It curves round both sides and digs into the sulcie sides. It is common with this nail type to also have dry skin (Onycophosis) build up at the sides which compacts and causes even more pressure.....if it wasn't enough with the nail causing discomfort too! It is also common for this type of nail to puncture the surrounding tissue and cause infection,

In this case, the patient was in pain. They had been managing this on their own the best they could. Due to work commitments, getting an appointment wasn't as easy. However, we managed to work round the patients work schedule.

Conservative management of the nail. Nail cut back, cleared, filed. Patient reported instant relief post treatment! Slight discomfort during treatment due to the curvature in the nail but once that nail was clipped and cleared, the pressure was gone. How did this occur though with this particular patient? Well... trauma to the nail and the nail fell off.

When it had fully grown back in, it resulted in this shape and damage. So the plan going forward is regular podiatry visits for clearing of the nail borders etc.

Patient very happy, pain free, Podiatrist happy :-)

Stephanie