@Chrissy Page Until one experiences the agony of a treatment-resistant ingrown toenail, it is hard to imagine the pain and inconvenience associated with it. Relief when finally achieved makes the pain of keeping that nail away from the flesh pale away. Especially, in a young person very active daily, playing sports. All such activity was curtailed for the entire school year, no Physical Ed. Not allowed in swimming. I cannot explain how good it felt to become a part of the school routine again.
I agree, yes, the post of @Frank Sanoica is very graphic. I had a classmate in high who was absent for a week because of surgery of a toe, it's the big toe actually that was inhabited by a wayward toenail called ingrown. The nail had penetrated the skin and into the flesh so it needed to be operated by a doctor. The issue was the dilemma of the doctor between removing the entire toenail or just a portion. Fortunately, the doctor was able to take out just a portion of the nail and when it healed, the ingrown did not come back. Such a small part of our body that gives us much pain sometimes, huh.
@Corie Henson My post was not intended to be graphic, but rather informative for any who might have experienced, or currently ARE experiencing, the consequences I experienced. We few here posting nightly are surely not the only folks needing help. If only one person is helped by my graphic illustration, it will have been well worth it if even it offended some for it's fact. If I had a photo of my toe at 15 when it was at it's worst, and posted it here, many would be overcome. Many who had not ever experienced this. Frank
I have had ingrown toe nails on my big toe. I finally found a temporary solution cutting them across helped a little and putting in a small v in the middle helped a little. Finally I found what worked for me when I feel a little discomfort I use hydrogen peroxide and soften the skin along the edge of the nail and then scrape out the dead skin I might need to do this two or three times it works well for me.
Probably the type of toe and nail you have also contributes to wether you get them or not. Everybody's nails grow differently. It's something that's never really been a problem no matter how my nails were cut.
@Chrissy Page One less concern to "pester", Chrissy! Reminds me of a TV commercial for Black Angus Steak House in Phoenix. Showed a cowboy-type frying steak up over a campfire, telling of how Black Angus wants "ya to enjoy yer meal without bein' "pestered" too much"! He then hit a pestering insect on his head with the fry pan! Frank