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How Can An Infected And Swollen Toe Be Treated?
We are traveling. When we stopped at the motel, my husband's big toe was swollen twice the size. It is filled with pus. The toenail has died and turned white and about ready to fall off. It also has had a very bad fung is. We have stopped for the night and will be home sometime tomorrow. I had some 500 mg of amoxicillin which I had him start taking. Can we wait till we get home to treat it? Also, we put ice on it for the swelling. Should he be soaking it in warm water?
Wed, 25 Apr 2018
Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service.
I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.
It seems that the symptoms of swelling of toenail along with pus accumulation and dying of the toe nail occurs commonly due to causes like bacterial or fungal infection. This condition is known as Paronychia.
It can occur due to conditions like traumatic injury to the side of the nail like while washing clothes or dishwashing, injury while cutting nail, nail biting habits, overzealous manicure, etcetera.
I would therefore suggest you to consult a General Surgeon and get evaluated and a thorough clinical evaluation is generally sufficient for diagnosis.
You can be advised to apply a combination of steroid, antibiotic and antifungal ointment over it. If it is painful topical application of numbing ointment and taking anti-inflammatory painkiller like Ibuprofen can help. Do cool compresses over it.
If the lump is large and painful then incision and drainage followed by a course of antibiotics and painkillers will help get relief.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Honey Arora
I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.
It seems that the symptoms of swelling of toenail along with pus accumulation and dying of the toe nail occurs commonly due to causes like bacterial or fungal infection. This condition is known as Paronychia.
It can occur due to conditions like traumatic injury to the side of the nail like while washing clothes or dishwashing, injury while cutting nail, nail biting habits, overzealous manicure, etcetera.
I would therefore suggest you to consult a General Surgeon and get evaluated and a thorough clinical evaluation is generally sufficient for diagnosis.
You can be advised to apply a combination of steroid, antibiotic and antifungal ointment over it. If it is painful topical application of numbing ointment and taking anti-inflammatory painkiller like Ibuprofen can help. Do cool compresses over it.
If the lump is large and painful then incision and drainage followed by a course of antibiotics and painkillers will help get relief.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Honey Arora
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