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Is Your Pedicure Causing you More Harm than it’s Worth?

There’s nothing better than ending a long and stressful day of work with a nice, relaxing pedicure at your favorite nail salon. You get to soak your feet in a bubble bath of sea salt-treated water while seated in a nice big massage chair. The massage rollers begin working out the knots and tension built up in your upper back. With each passing moment, you begin to feel better and better. The stress of your daily responsibilities melts away as your nail technician begins your pedicure process.

Before you slip away into total and complete bliss, your nail technician begins to ask you what nail shape you’d like for your pedicure and how short you’d like to cut your nails. You answer with your usual ‘U’ shape – you think to yourself, ‘it’s cute and trendy. It’ll look nice with the nail polish color I chose’.

As you’re beginning to explain to them what you prefer, you notice pain on the sides of your large toenails. It’s been there all week, and the pain was tolerable before. You weren’t thinking much of it at work because you were too busy with your daily responsibilities, plus you felt that your new pair of tennis shoes that were just a half size too small you just bought needed some time to be broken into. Now you’re sitting and getting your pedicure treatment, and the pain is becoming more noticeable. It’s starting to become a little unbearable.

You mention the pain to your nail tech, and she advises that it might be an ingrown toenail. This is the first time you have experienced this pain, and you’re not sure what an ingrown toenail is. As you ask your nail technician to clarify what that means and why you’re experiencing pain, and she begins to inform you that an ingrown toenail is when a toenail grows out into the skin, most commonly at the sides of the nail, irritating your cuticles, creating tenderness, redness, swelling and in significant cases it leads to a severe infection.

Since you have only recently experienced this, do more research on your phone while your nail technician gets back to work. You open up your favorite search engine and begin looking for possible causes of ingrown toenails and think to yourself, ‘could my pedicures be causing this condition?’

According to many board-certified podiatrists, pedicures can be a leading cause of ingrown toenails if your nail technician cuts too much from the sides of your toenails and treats the area aggressively. As panic begins to take over you, you do a little research about the potential seriousness of the situation. Especially since your nail technician mentioned an infection. You don’t feel like you have a toe infection, but you want to be sure.

You begin to wonder: Can ingrown toenails be treated? Can you prevent them from recurring? Can you find a permanent solution for treating them?

Living in a largely populated city, you will be pleased to know that there are many solutions to treating your ingrown toenails in Los Angeles, CA. 

Can Ingrown toenails be treated?

The short answer here is, yes, ingrown toenails can be treated. If you’re looking for short term treatment, here are solutions for you:

  • You can always ask your nail technician to trim the sides of your toenail to make sure the sides of your toenail are not digging into the sides of your cuticles – causing your skin to become red, swollen, and irritated. Trimming the sides of your toenails usually works for extremely mild cases
  • Suppose you chronically and frequently experience an ingrown toenail. In that case, you probably have a more severe case and should consult with a podiatrist about the local treatment of an ingrown toenail in Los Angeles, CA. Your podiatrist can offer a more permanent solution for your issues and help significantly reduce the frequency of a recurring ingrown toenail.

Can Ingrown toenails be prevented?

Yes, there are preventative solutions for an ingrown toenail. Here are some ways you can avoid it:

  • When getting your pedicures done, ask your nail technician to make sure they use clean instruments and cut and shape your toenails in a short (but not extremely short) and straight shape. If your nail technician shapes your toenails in a ‘U’ like shape, you are more than likely to experience pain and a mild case of an ingrown toenail. The reason behind cutting your toenail into a straight and short length is that your nails are growing daily. As the ‘U’ shaped nail grows out, it starts to grow into the sides of your toenails. When it continues to push against the skin, it begins to cause the cuticles to swell, thus becoming inflamed and more inclined to become infected as the nail growth continues.
  • Make sure you are wearing shoes that fit you perfectly. If you have outgrown your favorite pair of shoes even just a little bit and the tip of your shoe is pushing against your toes, throw them out or donate them if they are in good condition. Continuing to wear shoes that do not fit you anymore can lead to severe issues like bunions and ingrown toenails, and in extreme cases, corrective surgery will be required.

Save yourself the trouble and pain caused by ingrown toenails. Next time you go in for your regularly scheduled pedicure and your nail technician is working on your toenails – make sure you’re not experiencing any pain or make sure your technician isn’t cutting too much into the side of your toenails. Remember, many board-certified podiatrists have mentioned that any aggressive treatment of the toenail area can lead to complications and the development of a painful ingrown toenail. While the issue may be mild initially, you certainly don’t want this condition to progress into something that requires more severe treatment. If you are experiencing any symptoms of an ingrown toenail, call a local Los Angeles podiatrist today!

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