Ingrown Toenail Surgery

Ingrown toenails are painful, recurring and dangerous because they commonly lead to infection and deformation the the affected toes.

There are various causes of ingrown nails:

• Cutting nails too short
• Cutting down the sides of the nail
• Curvy nails
• Wide nails
• Damaged/deformed nails
• Poor foot biomechanics – leads to increased stress to the big toe
• Tight shoes

Our chiropodist, Jake Cahoon, performs a minimally invasive, in-office procedure to fix ingrown toenails permanetly. In this procedure, the toe is numbed, then the ingrown portion of the nail is removed. Only a small portion of nail is cut out (not the entire nail). The nail root is then cauterized with a chemical so it never re-grows in the affected area. This is all performed in less than an hour. The patient walks in and walks out. After the surgery, the nail is only slightly narrower than it was originally. Aesthetically, the nail is usually not significantly altered.