Ingrown toenail refers to a case where the nail starts growing into the soft nail bed, either on one side or on both sides.
This mostly happens quite frequently to the toenails and usually it is the big toe that gets affected.
Ingrown toenails cause swelling, discomfort, lots of pain, redness, and infection, and early identification and treatment often makes a big difference when you need to deal with the problem.
Upon noticing any of the above symptoms, you need to commence treatment immediately to prevent any serious complications subsequently.
It's time to visit a podiatrist if the whole toe appears red or in extreme pain or bleeding.
Self-treatment can be good only if the problem is diagnosed early and the objective of the treatment would be keeping the nail relatively soft while curbing infection.
Take care never to dig out an ingrown toenail out, as it can be quite painful and dangerous.
The nail can be cut out properly as it grows out to avoid problems in future.
Washing your feet minimum once daily is a must and the use of anti-bacterial soaps would certainly be of added help.
It would also be fine to use hand soaps normally used by you.
So, take time washing your feet and rinsing thoroughly upon completion of washing.
It's possible to work the infection out - pouring peroxide upon the toe will kill all bacteria; wiping your toe with betadine will not only kill bacteria but will also make the conditions unsuitable for further bacteria to thrive on the toe's surface.
Keep your feet airy to the maximum extent possible.
You can wear open-ended shoes like sandals, thongs or flip-flops or even barefoot for a while.
This will allow drying time for the feet and helps in avoiding infection.
It's important that you care for your feet properly and start working carefully on an ingrown toenail at the first instance you get to see it.
While it's always essentially good to keep the feet clean to prevent ingrown toenails, you don't need to continue the regimen after the problem goes away.