As a Podiatrist ingrown toenails are a very common condition that afflicts most of socety. Below is a list of what I consider to be the best five treatments for ingrown toenails. If you are a Diabetic and have an ingrown toenail there is only one choice for treatment: you MUST see a Podiatrist immediately. For everybody else here is a list of the best five treatments for ingrown toenails.
5. The Ingrown Toenail Pain reliever kit from Dr. Scholls works by placing a tourniquet over the area, and a pain relieving cream over the offending edge of the ingrown toenail. This will give you some pain relief and will make it much easier to trim the ingrown toenail out yourself (#2 treatment).
4. Soak the Ingrown Toenail– Preferribly you would soak ingrown toenail with epsom salts. If your ingrown toenail is infected, this will draw out the puss, and relieve some of the pain. Soaking should also be performed prior to trimming the ingrown toenail out yourself.
3. Antibiotics– If your ingrown toenail is infected, see a doctor and have him place you on an antibiotic. This will reduce the infection that maybe causing a great deal of the pain.
2. Cut the ingrown toenail off yourself. The best way to do this is to combine treatments 4 and 2 prior to trimming the toenail out and then use some of the instruments shown below. This will give you a great deal of relief and will be painful for a minute but then you should have relief.
1. Have a Podiatrist cut it out for you. This is the easiest and most successful of the ingrown toenail treatments listed above. The Podiatrist will numb the offending toe so you will not feel anything. Then remove the offending edge of the ingrown toenail and can even add a chemical to the area that will stop the ingrown toenail from returning.