How to Avoid an Ingrown Toenail becoming Painful

Quite often people suffer from a painful ingrown nail usually of the big toe. Such a nail would traumatise the surrounding tissue causing it to be red, swollen and painful. The pain is such that there were times a surgical excision of the nail is the answer to relieving intense pain permanently as painkillers only offer temporary relief.

Before the nail becomes like this, you would already felt
creepin,nagging pain: that the time you should start massaging the skin next to it away
 to allow for space for the growing nail and reduce pressure and pain.

Again the trick is to be aware of your body and feel the initial minimal pain creeping up your toe. what you need to do is to soak your feet in salt water ( 1 tsp of salt in every 500 ml warm water) for about 10 minutes then dry them. ( If in a hurry just use diluted OTC antiseptic). Then put 2-3 drops of olive oil ( cooking oil will do) on your fingers and message the skin next to your affected toe gently away from the nail and do this a few minutes every time you message the toe. You will find that the nail will be able to grow normally after a few days and the initial pain would be gone as you gently tease out a space for the nail to grow. Later when the nail has grown longer, make sure you cut it straight and not curved.

Nail care is important

By the way, this measure will not really work if the ingrown nail is already infected and swollen... too late.. you may end up getting cellulitis and have to take antibiotics and the nail may need to be removed under local anesthesia. Infected ingrown toe nail is bad for people suffering from diabetes so good footcare is essential.