Brief Answer: Partial nail avulsion and chemical matricectomy Detailed Answer: Hi. Thanks for posting your concern at XXXXXXX Ingrown nail OR Onychocryptosis is a painful condition in which the nail grows so that it cuts into one or both sides of the paronychium or nail bed. This condition has been found only in shoe-wearing cultures and does not occur in habitually barefoot people since it requires downward pressure on the nail by a shoe. Symptoms of an ingrown nail include pain along the margins of the nail (caused by hypergranulation that occurs around the aforementioned region) and worsening of pain when wearing tight footwear. Signs of infection include redness and swelling of the area around the nail, drainage of pus, and watery discharge tinged with blood. The main symptom is swelling at the base of the nail on the side the nail is ingrowing. Treatment: I usually treat my patients with an oral antibiotic for a week to resolve the infection followed by lateral nail avulsion with phenolic matriectomy, which is the best procedure in my view. In this procedure after lateral nail avulsion, the lateral part of nail matrix should be cauterised, which is a MUST to prevent the recurrence of ingrowing toe nail. I would advice that you see a dermatologist. Your dermatologist might ask you to take an oral antibiotic for a week if there is infection in that region followed by lateral nail avulsion and nail matriectomy. take care regards

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