Patient/caregiver was educated on causes and risk factors of ingrown toenail development as follows:
- Acute damage or injury to toenail: Individuals who move around bare-footed can be at increased risk for exposure to frequent toenail injury. Repeatedly injured toenail can grow abnormal and become thickened over time. Trimming the inappropriately grown toenails can result in left out sharp edges, leading to development of ingrown toenails. Toenail injury and ingrown toenails can also be frequent with sports injury, such as, in soccer, basketball, and volleyball players.
- Improperly fitting shoe: Shoes with narrow toe box have edges that close onto your toes, crowd on them, and can exert undue pressure on the toes and compress the toes. This can result in abnormal growth of toenails, into the soft flesh of the toe, resulting in ingrown toenail. Also, using high heeled shoes can result in complications such as, hammertoe deformity, which can also contribute towards ingrowing of toenails.
- Poor foot hygiene: Improper foot hygiene and noncompliance with podiatrist visits, especially in diabetic patients, can be an important risk factor for ingrown toenail development.
