12/12/2025
At Colpod Podiatry & Therapies in Chesterfield & Hathersage we see a fair number of patients with painful ingrown toe nails.
An ingrowing toenail is where a piece of nail pierces the flesh of the toe. It can feel as if you have a splinter, and be extremely painful and inflamed or infected. In more severe cases, it can cause pus and bleeding. Ingrowing toenails most commonly affect the big toenail, but can affect the other toes too.
A nail that is curling (involuted or convoluted) into the flesh, but isn’t actually piercing the skin, isn't an ingrowing toenail but can feel very painful and can also appear red and inflamed.
One of the most common causes is not cutting your toenails properly, such as cutting nails too low in order to relieve the pressure and discomfort of an involuted nail.
Tight footwear and socks can also push your toe flesh onto the nail so that it pierces the skin. If you sweat excessively or don’t rotate your footwear, the skin becomes moist and weak and is easily penetrated by the nail. If you have brittle nails with sharp edges or are in the habit of breaking off bits of nail that are sticking out, you are more likely to get an ingrowing toenail.
For the most basic painful irritable ingrowing toenail, the offending spike of nail will be removed and the toe covered with a dressing. For toes too painful to touch, a local anaesthetic will be injected before removing the offending part of nail.
For more information visit our website www.colpodtherapies.co.uk or call the clinic where one of the team will help you.
