Ingrown Toenails: Why That “Quick Fix” Can Make Everything Worse

Ingrown Toenails: Why That “Quick Fix” Can Make Everything Worse

You know the feeling — that sharp, throbbing pain every time your toe nudges the inside of your shoe. An ingrown toenail starts as a minor annoyance and can spiral into something that makes walking, exercising, or even wearing socks genuinely miserable.

If you’re searching for effective ingrown toenail treatment in Bassendean, you’re in the right place. At The Wellness Place, our podiatry team — led by sports podiatrist Aaron Gregory — sees ingrown toenails every single week. And here’s the thing: most people come in after trying to fix it themselves first, which almost always makes the problem worse. Let’s walk through what’s really going on, why your bathroom surgery needs to stop, and how we get you out of pain — often in a single appointment.

What Actually Causes an Ingrown Toenail?

An ingrown toenail — known medically as onychocryptosis — happens when the edge or corner of your nail grows into the surrounding skin instead of straight over it. It almost always affects the big toe, though any toe can be involved, and it’s particularly common in teenagers and young adults.

The usual suspects behind ingrown toenails include:

• Improper trimming: Cutting nails too short or rounding the corners — the number one cause we see at the clinic.
• Tight footwear: Shoes that squeeze your toes together, especially narrow dress shoes or poorly fitted runners.
• Trauma: Stubbing your toe, dropping something on it, or even repetitive pressure from sports like soccer or running.
• Genetics: Some people are simply born with more curved or involuted nails that are naturally prone to digging in.
• Poor foot hygiene or excessive sweating: Softens the surrounding skin, making it easier for the nail to penetrate.

Once that nail edge breaches the skin, it’s not just pain you’re dealing with — your body treats it as a foreign object. Inflammation kicks in, and if bacteria join the party, you’ve got yourself an infection that needs proper medical attention.

Why DIY Ingrown Toenail Removal Is a Terrible Idea

We get it. That nail is hurting, and it’s tempting to grab the nail clippers — or worse, scissors, a pocket knife, or whatever’s in the bathroom drawer — and dig it out yourself. It feels like you’re solving the problem. You’re not.

The Infection Risk Is Real

Non-sterile household tools introduce bacteria directly into broken skin. If the area is already red, swollen, warm, or oozing — and you cut into it — you’ve just opened the door to a deeper infection. What could have been a simple in-chair fix now potentially needs antibiotics alongside treatment. For people with diabetes or poor circulation, the consequences can be far more serious.

You’ll Probably Make It Worse

Most people don’t actually remove the offending nail spicule — they just cut the visible corner. The sharp bit that’s actually piercing your skin remains buried, and cutting the nail back further often creates a new sharp edge. The nail regrows and digs in again, sometimes deeper than before. This is why we see people who have been “managing” their ingrown toenail for months — when we could have fixed it permanently in under an hour.

Home “Remedies” That Backfire

Soaking your foot in warm salty water can temporarily soothe mild irritation. But if you’ve already broken the skin, moisture combined with a warm, enclosed shoe creates the perfect environment for bacteria to thrive. And that old trick of cutting a V-shaped notch in the nail? It doesn’t work — it’s a myth. The nail doesn’t “grow toward the centre” because you cut the middle.

How a Podiatrist Treats Ingrown Toenails

This is where things get dramatically better. When you come into The Wellness Place for ingrown toenail treatment in Bassendean, Aaron assesses the severity and talks you through the options — no judgement, just a plan.

Conservative Treatment (Mild Cases)

If the nail is only mildly ingrown and there’s no significant infection, conservative care often works well:

• Nail packing: A tiny piece of sterile cotton or dental floss is placed under the nail edge to gently lift it away from the skin so it can grow out properly.
• Proper trimming education: Aaron shows you exactly how to cut your nails — straight across, not curved, leaving the corners visible above the skin.
• Antibiotics or antiseptic dressings: If there’s a mild infection, we address that alongside the mechanical fix.
• Taping techniques: Pulling the skin away from the nail edge to reduce pressure while the nail grows out.

For many people, this is all it takes — especially when caught early.

Partial Nail Avulsion with Phenolisation (The Permanent Fix)

For recurrent or moderately-to-severely ingrown toenails, there’s a procedure that solves the problem definitively. It’s called a partial nail avulsion (PNA) with chemical matrixectomy, and it’s the gold standard in ingrown toenail surgery.

Here’s how it works:

• The toe is numbed with local anaesthetic — you’re awake, but you feel nothing.
• Aaron removes a narrow strip of nail (usually 3–4mm) from the offending side, tracing all the way back to the nail matrix.
• The matrix — the nail’s “root” where growth happens — is treated with phenol, a chemical that prevents regrowth of that specific section.
• The result: the problematic strip of nail never grows back, but the rest of the nail looks completely normal — just slightly narrower.

The research backs this up strongly. A 2012 Cochrane review found that surgical interventions are significantly better than non-surgical approaches at preventing recurrence, and adding chemical matrix ablation (phenol) to the surgery substantially reduces the chance of the nail growing back inwards. Long-term studies report success rates above 95% with the phenolisation technique.

Recovery is straightforward — most people are back in regular shoes within a week, and the toe heals beautifully with minimal scarring. Aaron performs this procedure regularly at The Wellness Place, and patients routinely tell us they wish they’d done it years earlier.

Preventing Ingrown Toenails in the First Place

Whether you’ve had an ingrown toenail before or you’d simply rather not, a few habits make all the difference:

• Cut nails straight across: Never round the corners or cut them too short. The white tip of the nail should still be visible above the skin.
• Wear shoes that fit: There should be a thumb’s width of space between your longest toe and the end of the shoe. The toe box shouldn’t squeeze your toes together.
• Keep feet clean and dry: Good hygiene prevents the skin from softening and becoming vulnerable.
• Don’t pick or tear nails: It creates uneven, jagged edges that are more likely to pierce the skin.
• If you have diabetes or circulation issues: Don’t attempt any self-treatment — see a podiatrist at the first sign of trouble. Your risk of complications is significantly higher.

When to Come See Us

You don’t need to wait until you’re limping. Book an appointment with Aaron at The Wellness Place if:

• The pain is stopping you from wearing shoes comfortably.
• You see redness, swelling, or pus around the nail.
• You’ve had the same nail become ingrown more than once.
• You have diabetes, neuropathy, or poor circulation.
• You’ve tried home care and it’s not getting better within a few days.

We’re at 103 Old Perth Road, Bassendean, and you can book your podiatry appointment by calling us on (08) 9379 3838. Most ingrown toenails are sorted in one visit — and you’ll walk out genuinely relieved.

References:

1. Eekhof JA, Van Wijk B, Knuistingh Neven A, et al. Interventions for ingrowing toenails. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2012;(4):CD001541.
2. Ozan F, Doğar F, Altay T, et al. Treatment of Ingrown Toenail With Proximolateral Matrix Partial Excision and Phenol Ablation. Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association. 2012;102(2):130-136.
3. American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. Ingrown Toenail: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment. FootHealthFacts.org. 2024.