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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staff
You can typically treat ingrown toenails through lifestyle and home remedies, such as soaking your foot regularly in warm water and applying an antibiotic cream. If pain continues or there's pus or redness that seems to be spreading, see your doctor. You may need to have part of the nail removed and antibiotics prescribed for infection.
Ingrown toenail treatments include:
- Cotton under nail. For a slightly ingrown nail (redness and pain but no discharge), your doctor may place cotton under the edge of the nail to separate the nail from the overlying skin. This helps the nail eventually grow above the skin edge.
- Partial nail removal. For a more severe ingrown toenail (redness, pain and pus), your doctor may trim or remove the ingrown portion of the nail. Before this procedure, your doctor may numb your toe by injecting it with an anesthetic.
- Nail and tissue removal. For a recurrent ingrown toenail, your doctor may suggest removing a portion of your toenail along with the underlying tissue (nail bed) to prevent that part of your nail from growing back. This procedure can be done with a chemical, a laser or other methods.
Your doctor may also recommend using topical or oral antibiotics for ingrown toenail treatment, especially if the toe is infected or at risk of becoming infected.
- Richardson EG. Disorders of nails and skin. In: Canale ST, et al. Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics. 11th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/115837490-3/0/1584/638.html?tocnode=55690799&fromURL=638.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-03329-9..50087-8_4366. Accessed Jan. 7, 2009.
- Goldstein BG, et al. Paronychia, herpetic whitlow and ingrown toenails. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 6, 2009.
- Zuber TJ. Ingrown toenail removal. American Family Physician. 2002;65:2547.
- Foot care. American Diabetes Association. http://www.diabetes.org/type-2-diabetes/foot-care.jsp. Accessed Jan 7, 2009.
- Prevent diabetes problems: Keep your feet and skin healthy. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/complications_feet/index.htm. Accessed Jan. 7. 2009.
