Ingrown toenail..

[Whatthefunk]

Evening all. DS hopefully having surgery, soon to remove his toenail. Probably the whole nail will have to go. Anyone had experience of this? How long will he need off school?

My ds has this last year, had a couple of days off and was fine.

I had a week off work when i had it done, but i did have both big toenails taken iff at the same day.
Had to wear flipflops for 2 weeks

@Whatthefunk how old is your ds?? Mine was 13 and said the worst part was the injections. After that he was fine and was even taking photos of the removal

He's 12, and its his big toe. I met chiropodist at a party, last night and she was talking about him needing 2 weeks off school.

I had mine done - they actually just removed the sides. They made a right palaver about soaking them every day, dressing them and putting on iodine. Went on for ages. But it did not interfere with life in any way.

I understand that some docs do not make such a meal of the aftercare stuff.

I hope not... 2 weeks off school, at this stage, would be a pain

2 weeks seems a lot, but maybe that's worst case??

My ds had the side of his nail taken off after his toe got infected and wouldn't heal. I am fairly sure he went to lectures that afternoon if not the day after (he is 19 and at university but sees us every weekend). Make sure that he/you look after his toe after the surgery, ds has had four lots of antibiotics now and has a hospital appointment at the infectious diseases department next week to try and get things sorted out. Granted this is mainly because he initially tried to cut out the ingrown toe nail himself instead of going to the GP.

NHS Podiatrist here (just when you need one )

The actual procedure start to finish takes about an hour ,
Do you want the graphic detail?

OK

First , he'll have had the pre-assessment and it will have been explained . Then on the day , get him to have his breakfast or lunch , go to the loo before he goes in.
If he wants he can take headphones and music but he'll need to listen to all the prep first and give consent (and you will need to sign the consent forms)

He'll need an open toe sandle to wear on the way out .
His toe will be cleansed , he'll most likely lie flat ( you don;t faint lieing flat) then he'll have two* injections , either side of the base of the toe .
It will sting (I always tell the patient that is the injection working) I have had Local Analgesia in my 2nd Year training so I know what they're like . Now they don;t allow Pod students to receive LA in practice .

When its numb( * they might need a top up injection if one of the nerve branches doesn't get infused ) it;ll feel heavy and numb. He'll feel pressure and cold but not pain. They should test it (poke with a sharp instrument)

He might want to sit up and watch .
Toe is wrapped in sterile drape and Iodine swab. Then the tourniquet (silicone ring) is applied . Nail is removed with a very fine elevator .
Check it all clear .
Phenol applied (timed)
Neutralised
Tourniquet removed and time noted (how long its been on)
It might bleed a bit once the tourniquet comes off . Its dressed .

His toe will be numb for a couple of hours . It is unlikely he'll need painkillers but if he does , no asprin.
They'll give you aftercare leaflets and an emergency number

He'll need to elevate his foot and keep it dry . Our dept redresses after 2 days then the patient will redress themselves . The first dressing is bulky and might have dry blood , usually comes off ok, but they will use sterile saline to soak it.

He should be fine after a couple of days all going well, he'll need roomy shoes and make sure no clumsy git stands on his toe .

Good Luck, its really not as bad as you think its going to be . The Pods who do our Nail Surgery do a lot of them .

Complete healing varies , advice is usually 6-8 weeks but teenagers in good health heal much quicker than someone in their 60s ( and take into account health compromising healing)

He'll need to avoid sports till it heals and they might let him out of class a couple of minutes early to go to his next class - to avoid his toe being stepped on.

I've had it done twice (first time I didn't have the chemical applied and the bigger grew back!)

Both times my feet felt great within a few days. I think the thought of having an injection in my toe was the worst bit as it is such a weird place. The injection was a tiny bit painful but nothing like the pain of walking around with a severely ingrown toenail!

Don't let him freak himself out watching videos of the procedure on YouTube, it looks brutal but you can't feel it.

Ihuntmonsters. Thanks so much for that run down. Our GP was pretty clueless as to what would happen. The thing that concerns me, is him going back to school, and someone treading on it..

Thanks all. I think we are feeling a bit more relaxed about it. DH is very much of the attitude, ignorance is bliss, but Ds and I like to know everything

Give school plenty of warning and hopefully they will make provision for him.

Thanks. Really helpful info. I'll email the school on Monday

I had it done when I was about 14. I had the next day off school but could probably have gone in to be honest.

The actual procedure hurt like hell I'm afraid. My toe wouldn't go numb so they had to do several local anaesthetic injections into it which really hurt. Have some painkillers on stand by and give them before the local wears off. I was fine by the next day but took the day off as didn't want to go to school in flip flops.

It was definitely worth it. The in growing nail never grew in again.

I bought my ds steel toe cap shoes to wear before he had his removed because he was always getting stepped on

Thanks again. The deed was done this morning. The procedure wasn't too bad, but the injections were grim... He's all bandaged up, and enjoying not being allowed to move..Thank god it's over

I randomly watched PART of a viseo on this last night, suffice to say I will never admit to needing this done unless my toe is the size of a sweet potato and I need morphine to walk - but I do understand it looks worse than it is in real life....

It was awful to watch, but as he's been in agony for the best part of a year, not nearly as bad, as we thought

Ah the relief What DS , it'll all be worth the worry . The injections are a bit nippy ( when I was a student we practised on each other . Can you imagine , your classmates who had never wielded a needle before being allowed carte blanche on your toe.............)

Your DS needs lots of rest , lots of chocolate and on no account to wash up he doesn't want to drop a casserole dish on his toe

Hahahahahaha!

DO 14, had both removed this afternoon. Procedure was much less traumatic and quicker than we had imagined. Longest bit was waiting for the local to work. She's in a bit of pain, discomfort this evening. We are planning on school tomorrow and we've bought a bigger pair of softish shoes to wear. She has to attend for dressings to be re-done tomorrow. I can not imagine any school being happy with a fortnight off.

I had the exact same when I was about the same age. I was back in school the next day.

Is he having the nail bed removed too? If not then it will grow back like mine did, after that I had it done again but with just the side of the toenail removed and the nailbed removed and it hasn’t come back.

He's had a partial jobby. Both sides removed, and cauterised. He's fine to go in tomorrow, but the podiatrist said, as it's Friday, let him have the weekend.