I’ve noticed over the years that many of the people coming in with nail fungus are also dealing with recurrent ingrown nails that they self treat at home periodically by cutting the nail back as far as they can on that side and digging into the corner to try to relieve the pressure and pain.  While this is often successful short term, in the long run it comes back, and this repeated cycle of trauma to the nail is what eventually leads to a fungal infection.

These people often aren’t aware that there’s a permanent solution to ingrown nails.  It’s called a partial nail avulsion.

During this quick, minor office procedure we numb the toe and then remove a thin portion of the entire nail along the edge that is ingrown.  The piece removed is mostly what was growing down into the skin causing pain, and once healed there is generally very little cosmetic difference to the nail.  When performing this procedure we remove that thin piece along the border all the way up under the cuticle to the nail root, and once removed we use a Q-tip to apply a small amount of chemical which prevents only the piece we took out from growing back.

It’s important to also address this problem during the course of treatment.  Otherwise, you have a much higher chance of a recurrence of the fungal infection in the future, if you continue to self treat it at home.