Podiatry

Ingrown Toenail Surgery Warwick.

Don’t let your toenails be a source of ongoing pain.

Our ingrown toenail clinic offers comprehensive care from conservative treatment to advanced surgical solutions.

Experiencing pain and swelling on your toes?

Ingrown toenails are a fairly common condition that impacts a wide variety of people. It is where the corner or edge of the toenail digs into the flesh of the toe. This can lead to inflammation and cause swelling, redness and pain. In severe cases, ingrown toenails can become infected and may produce pus. Ingrown toenails most commonly impact the big toe.

The most common symptoms of an ingrown toenail are:

Tenderness and pain in one or both sides of the toenail
Swelling and redness in the affected area
Inflammation
Warmth in the toe
Infection including pus or discharge

What Causes Ingrown Toenails?

There are many different causes of ingrown toenails. These include:

Trimming Nails Incorrectly: If you cut your toenails too short or round the edges, the nail will be forced to grow into the surrounding skin.
Narrow or Tight Footwear: The footwear you choose might put constant pressure on your toes, causing your nail to dig into your skin.
Injury to the Toes: If you stub your toe repeatedly, the pressure placed on it can change the nail’s shape.
Running: Repeated pressure, such as from running, can alter the nail’s shape.
Natural Nail Shape: Some people are born with naturally curved or fan-shaped nails, making ingrown toenails more common.
Sweaty Feet: The moisture from sweaty feet can result in softened skin which is easier for the nail to grow into.
Fungal Infection: These infections often cause the toenail to change shape or thicken, increasing chances of becoming ingrown.

Other Medical Conditions: Conditions like nerve damage, poor circulation or diabetes can lead to ingrown toenails.

Professional Ingrown Toenail Treatment

We offer a variety of treatment options for ingrown toenails. Some are non-surgical and more conservative. For severe or recurring cases, we may recommend surgical options. These include partial and total removal of the nail.

Non-Surgical Options

Nail Spike Removal: We can remove the offending ‘spike’ of nail in clinic to provide immediate relief.
Packing: Our podiatrists can place sterile gauze under the edge of the nail to encourage it to grow over the skin.
Antibiotics: A course of antibiotics may be prescribed if the toe shows signs of infection. This is often used alongside other treatments.
Nail Splinting: By placing medical-grade tape, wires or splints, we can help realign the nail to prevent it from digging into the skin.

Surgical Options

Partial Nail Avulsion: We remove a portion of the offending nail under local anaesthetic. In some cases, we treat the root of that particular section of nail with a specialist solution to prevent regrowth.
Total Nail Avulsion: This option is reserved for recurrent or severe cases. This treatment involves removing the entire nail plate and root. We may also treat the nailbed to stop the nail from regrowing.
Matrixectomy: When we perform a partial or total nail avulsion, we often apply a chemical like phenol to the nail matrix to stop the nail regrowing.

Long-Term Solution for Ingrown Toenails: Ingrown Nail Surgery.

If you are frequently struggling with painful or even infected toes due to an ingrown toenail, you might be looking for a long-term solution for ingrown toenails. The best way we can help you manage the issue and reduce the likelihood of it repeating is nail surgery for ingrown toenails. Partial nail removal will allow us to reshape the nail. Likewise, total nail replacement will address the problem comprehensively.

1. Partial Nail Avulsion (PNA)

A PNA is a minor procedure performed in the treatment chair. It takes one hour, with approximately 15-20 minutes of ‘procedure’ time, and the rest is spent on prep work and dressing the toe afterward. This ingrown toenail surgery is comfortable as it is completed under local anaesthetic.

During a PNA, we remove a small portion of the troublesome nail and apply a chemical that destroys the nail-growing cells. This means that you will not continue to produce a nail in that small corner of the nail that we address. Instead, your nail will appear to have a smooth and straight nail border. The nail does not look abnormal and, once healed, it is often unnoticeable that you’ve had the procedure done at all.

We monitor you carefully in the weeks following the procedure to ensure it is healing well, to show you how to care for your toe, and to reapply the dressings until it has healed.

To read a case study of a partial nail avulsion completed on an ingrown toenail, click here.

Timeframes

Appointment length – 60 minutes
One day of rest is recommended (treatment day)
2-8 weeks for recovery
Appearance changes – minor to none
Pain level – local anaesthetic
Success Rate – 80% long-term resolution success

2. Total Nail Avulsion (TNA)

A TNA procedure is very similar in its methodology to a PNA, except that instead of removing a small portion of the ingrown nail, the entire nail is removed. This is often selected by patients who not only have an ingrown toenail but also changes to the structure or appearance of their toenails (like nail thickening, nail shape distortion, a moth-eaten appearance from toenail fungus, and similar problems).

With a TNA, there are two options after removing the nail:

Permanently prevent the nail from growing back by chemically destroying the nail-growing cells
Allow the nail to regrow, in the hopes that the appearance/structure will improve as the nail starts ‘fresh’

With the latter option, your ingrown nail may recur. Many people who have TNAs do believe the ingrown nail is associated with changes to the nail shape or structure, and having the procedure may prevent them from coming back.

Time to nip that ingrown toenail in the bud? Book an appointment with our team today to discuss your options.

Can I Prevent Ingrown Toenails?

The good news is that, in many cases, ingrown toenails may be preventable. Our podiatrists have provided some general advice:

Cut your nails straight across, never down the sides – Cutting your nails frequently but only trimming small amounts can help maintain a healthy length and encourage better growth
File the corners of the nail to remove any sharp edges and avoid cutting your nails too short
Wear proper fitting footwear – Never cram your feet into shoes that are too small. Choose shoes with a wide toe box to avoid putting pressure on your toes. Remember, when performing sport your feet need extra room as they will get hot and swell
Avoid picking at your toenails and running anything down the side of them that has not been properly sterilised
Practice good foot hygiene – Your feet get hot and sweaty, and cheap shoes don’t allow them to breathe properly, making an ideal environment for bacteria and fungus to grow. Soak your feet regularly in warm salt water baths to help clean out any debris or infection. Wash your feet regularly with soap and dry them properly between the toes

Exercising proper foot hygiene (like taking regular showers and washing your feet with soap) may also go a long way to ensuring that your toenails do not become ingrown.

Your Ingrown Toenail Questions Answered .

What is an ingrown toenail?

Suffering from ingrown toenails is often a painful and frustrating ordeal. An ingrown toenail means that the nail edge has penetrated and grown into the surrounding skin. In most cases, the nail curves down into the skin, but in some cases it could be that there is excess skin/tissue surrounding the nail that the nail has grown into. Either way, the nail has pierced the skin.

Why does an ingrown toenail occur?

Ingrown toenails don’t just have one distinct cause but have many. For a lot of people, it is their nail-cutting technique. Toenails should be cut in a straight, clean line. Curving the edges of the nail too much can encourage the nail to curve down into the skin. Not cutting the very edge of the nail and ‘pulling’ the nail off can also leave a nail spicule at the edge of the nail which will then grow into the skin. It is often difficult to see or obstructed by the surrounding skin so you won’t know that it’s there.

Following the same principle, ‘picking’ your nails instead of cutting them can cause the same issue.

Tight footwear may also cause ingrown toenails because of the pressure it creates on the toes and surrounding skin that pushes into the nail. For others, their cause is uncontrollable genetic factors that dictate the way their nails grow.

How do I know if I have an ingrown toenail?

The main symptom is pain with touch, pressure, and movement. The toe may often appear red and swollen. As with anything that breaks the skin, ingrown toenails pose a serious risk of infection, so they must be treated with caution.

How do I treat an ingrown toenail?

Those with diabetes, nerve damage, or poor circulation should never attempt to treat their ingrown toenails at home.

If you have good general health and suspect you have an ingrown toenail, soak the nail in warm salty water for five minutes then dry thoroughly.

If pain persists, it will need to be examined by your podiatrist who will determine the proper course of treatment. This will involve treating the infection if present and clearing the offending nail edge.

Because ingrown toenails may reoccur, you can discuss with your podiatrist if a more permanent way of stopping ingrown toenails is appropriate for you. We do this by using a solution to stop the nail cells at the edge of the nail from growing as part of a minor surgical procedure. This aims to leave you with a normal and straight-looking nail edge. Your podiatrist will also provide you with education and advice for managing and caring for your toes.

What is the cost of ingrown toenail procedures

It can be impossible to quote for the cost of treatment of any ingrown toenail surgery without having first seen the patient and assessed the severity of the case. We want to keep things personal and make sure you understand all the treatment options, costs involved and the goals that you want to work towards, in order to create the best outcome for your situation.

It is easy to book an initial consultation with us either by phone or online and speak to one of our friendly team who will help direct you to the right person. We treat everyone with the respect they deserve and use a holistic approach so we can treat you as a whole, looking at all aspects that may be affecting the obvious symptom.

Treating people as individuals means we wouldn’t want to mislead you by quoting a false cost of treatment before we have even seen you and assessed your case, but we are confident we can help you achieve your health goals.

Why Choose Our Ingrown Toenail Clinic in Warwick?

Here at Optimise Health, we are passionate about keeping people at their best. We work in collaboration with our patients to achieve their goals. We employ a group of world-class practitioners, each with their own specialities and expertise. By working together, our team can diagnose, treat and optimise your health.

We have a wide range of the best health technology and equipment possible to aid us in diagnosing and treating our patients. Our suite of equipment gives you access to the same tools used by professional athletes.

As an organisation, we have a values-driven culture. We believe in practicing honesty, trust, and just being genuinely great people.

Our podiatrists have had extensive training over multiple years to become specialists in feet and legs. If you want to experience quality ingrown toenail surgery in Warwick, we are here for you. We offer proactive treatment to help reduce the likelihood of your ingrown toenail reoccurring. We are dedicated to getting to the source of the problem from the start.

Optimise Health has been providing health and lower limb care to Toowoomba, Warwick and Darling Downs for over 20 years. We are dedicated to offering professional and friendly service to all our clients.

State-of-the-Art Facilities

We’re proud of our modern treatment rooms and facilities — come and check them out for yourself! Plus, take advantage of the latest technologies and treatment methods.

Proactive Treatment

The last thing we want is for your ingrown toenail problem to reoccur, which is why we are committed to getting to the source of the issue from the beginning.

Multi-Disciplinary Approach

The Optimise Health team is composed of various allied health professionals to ensure that you receive a well-rounded approach to your care and treatment plan.

Our Warwick Location.

Visit our Warwick clinic, located at Shop 2/44-46 Wood Street, where our team of specialists at Optimise Health are available throughout the week to support your health and wellbeing.

Seek Podiatric Care for Ingrown Toenails .

For the most part, ingrown toenails are preventable and may be managed conservatively without the need for surgery. In particularly severe cases or if the issue is occurring frequently, however, a more aggressive form of treatment may be required. The skilled podiatry team at Optimise Health has ample experience dealing with ingrown toenails — we are ready and waiting to help you walk comfortably as soon as possible.