Ingrown toe nail?!

Ingrown toe nail?

I have a ingrown toe nail and have had it for about a week now. whats good for the pain and what can i do to get rid of it?

Acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil) for the pain. You can also try naproxen (Aleve), though people I have talked to feel that it only works for joint or muscle pain.

As far as the toenail goes, you should soak it in warm, soapy water a couple times a day for ~10-15 minutes to soften the skin around the nail. You can try and peel it back from the edge of the nail as much as you can. Once the edge of the nail has grown out a bit, you can put a piece of dental floss or cotton under the edge of the nail to keep the skin back. Most importantly, don't cut the nail until the edge of it is past the skin. Once it has grown out, avoid cutting the nail past the edge of the skin so it doesn't become ingrown again in the future. If you have significant redness, swelling, discharge, or pain around the nail, you may need to see your doctor to get a prescription for antibiotics. If not, you can try and apply some over-the-counter antibiotic ointment (like Neosporin) around the edge of the nail to keep it from getting infected.

Some people think you need to remove part or all of the nail, but I have only seen one patient ever where I felt this was required. Most people do just fine with the steps I discussed above.