“Is My Ingrown Toenail Infected?”
(Don’t Fix It Yourself!)
The pain is sharp, your sock feels tight, and the entire area around your nail is red and angry. You've probably typed "how to cut out an ingrown toenail" into a search engine, seen the home-remedy videos, and are nervously eyeing a pair of tweezers.
Please stop!
You're at a critical crossroads. What you do will determine what comes next: a simple, 10-minute fix in our office or a serious infection. In this blog, the Foot & Ankle Center of Maryland will cover all you need to know about ingrown nails, including signs, symptoms, and treatment, too!
How to Tell If Your Ingrown Toenail is Infected
An ingrown toenail manifests when the edge or corner of your nail (usually the big toe) digs into the soft skin beside it. This breaks the skin barrier, and in a warm, damp place like a shoe, that’s an open invitation for bacteria or fungal infections.
Look for these classic signs of infection:
Intense, Throbbing Pain: The pain is no longer just "sore" but has become throbbing, constant, and sensitive to any pressure (even from a bedsheet).
Deep Redness and Swelling: The skin fold is no longer just "pink"—it's angry, shiny red, and is significantly swollen.
Pus or Drainage (Exudate): You notice a yellowish-white or "weeping" fluid coming from the nail border.
Heat: The area feels noticeably warmer to the touch than your other toes.
If you have these symptoms (especially pus and throbbing pain), you have an active infection that requires medical treatment.
The Dangers of "Bathroom Surgery"
When you try to cut the nail border yourself:
You Can't See: You are blindly cutting "what you think" is the nail, often cutting the swollen, infected skin instead.
You're Using Dirty Tools: Your household clippers and tweezers are not sterile. You are almost certainly introducing new, aggressive bacteria directly into the wound.
You'll Leave a "Spike": The most common failure is that you'll only cut the top part of the nail, leaving a sharp, jagged spike deeper in the toe.
For anyone, this is a bad idea. For a person with diabetes, it's a limb-threatening risk.
How a Podiatrist Fixes It (Safely and Painlessly)
When you come to our office for treatment, the procedure is fast, sterile, and safe.
We Numb the Toe: The first and most important step. We administer a small amount of local anesthetic. You will feel a small pinch, and then the entire toe will be completely numb. You won't feel the rest of the procedure at all.
We Remove the Offending Border: Once you're numb, we use sterile, precise instruments to cleanly remove the small, ingrown edge of the nail. We don't remove the whole nail.
We Treat the Infection: We will gently drain the infection (if present) and clean the entire area.
The entire process takes about 10-15 minutes. The relief is almost immediate. You will walk out of our office with less pain than you had when you walked in! And if your nail is chronically ingrown, we can also perform a simple follow-up procedure to permanently stop that edge from ever growing back.
The Bottom Line: Don't Wait for an Infection
Don't risk a serious infection by trying a home remedy that will likely fail! This is a problem we can solve for you—safely, painlessly, and permanently.
Questions? Concerns? Contact the office of Dr. Ross Cohen of The Foot & Ankle Center of Maryland in Glen Burnie, MD, at (410) 761-3501 to schedule your initial diagnostic appointment. We look forward to meeting you!