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Treating Ingrown Toenails by Nail Splinting with a Flexible Tube: An Indian Experience
Author(s) -
Gupta Somesh,
Sahoo Bijaylaxmi,
Kumar Bhushan
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
the journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1346-8138
pISSN - 0385-2407
DOI - 10.1111/j.1346-8138.2001.tb00016.x
Subject(s) - nail (fastener) , medicine , surgery , tube (container) , dentistry , cure rate , mechanical engineering , materials science , engineering , metallurgy
Ingrown toenail is a common problem, and currently available treatments are either quite invasive or associated with unacceptably high recurrence rate. Recently a new non‐invasive therapy, “Nail splinting”, has been introduced. In this procedure, the nail is splinted with a longitudinally incised plastic tube. We conducted the present study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of this procedure in fifty patients (68 nail edges in 61 nails) with ingrown toenails at all stages. The pain disappeared almost immediately, and inflammation subsided in about one week in all nail edges. Thirty‐nine patients came for regular follow‐up for six months after removal of the tube. Eight (20.5%) of these patients showed recurrence of the problem. No serious side effects were noted.