Any nurses about…(beware gross foot pic)

[indecisiveninny]

12 year old daughter has what we now think is an infected ingrown toenail..

Not nice and needs to be seen but not a life or death situation.

However after complaining about if again tonight and me taking another look it’s now not only looking quite angry, hot and inflamed but I think I can see a tracking line that could possibly more than just inflammation of the area.

I have phoned 111 and the advice is just to keep an eye on it and make an appointment in the morning…

DD was with me during the call and once got off said “did I mention I can feel shooting pain going up my foot” !!!

DH thinks tomorrow is fine and can’t see anything other than redness you would expect if something was sore and infected and maybe I am being over anxious but wondered if I can ask for a 2nd opinion.

My son aged 12 had an almost identical toenail to that and we got some antibiotics from the GP and it calmed right down. I’d soak it in some warm salt water tonight and get it seen tomorrow.

Appointment in the morning and then a trip to the shops to get her larger shoes, as that looks as though she's been wearing ones at least a size too small for her.

Looks like it might need lancing, I’d get it seen tomorrow

As you've contacted 111 I expect some antibiotics will be issued. No need for urgent review.
Make an appointment with a podiatrist tomorrow who is happy to treat children.

Warm salt water soak, clean orange stick to try to lift soft edge off nail of she can bear it, GP or walk-in centre tomorrow (111 can usually book for you). Needs to take off nail varnish and in future always trim nail straight across

Thanks everyone, you’ve reassured me that tomorrow is fine.

She is in the right size shoe, routinely measured but spends a lot of time in riding boots with a lot of pressure on the ball of her foot so I wondered if that has done something.

Shes having a soak in the bath just now and is made up that she’s getting a morning off school so it’s not all bad! 😅

Soak it in salt water as hot as she can bear, that will draw out the infection. After this apply magnesium sulphate paste (you can purchase this from any pharmacy) use a silver plaster over this for 24 hours, soak again and repeat. The magnesium sulphate draws out infection, as does the silver plaster. This should work, if this fails I'd make a GP appointment. I've managed to get rid of a lot of ingrown toenails/infected nails with this method. I was told about it by an old family doctor years ago (not the silver plaster tip) and it's never failed me.

You do need to teach her how to cut the nails properly though, she'll end up with lifelong problems if she doesn't take care if her feet.

If that were my toe I'd love to stick a needle right in there

Magnesium sulphate is currently impossible to get hold of out of stock everywhere

What's caused her hammer toes, then? Or the pressure to drive her toenail into the sidewall?

Book an appointment with a podiatrist.

The healthcare professional you need is a podiatrist not a nurse. You need to get an appointment in the next few days as there may be a shoulder of nail that needs resection under local anaesthetic. As already suggested, boil a kettle of water and let it cool until a warm, bearable temperature. Add salt, and bathe the toe. Cover with some clean gauze or melolin/ telfa dressing and tubiguaze. I recommend open toe sandals to take the pressure off and keep out of dirty areas. Check the toe to make sure the inflammation does not track. If pus is coming out of the toe, antibiotics may be needed. Some podiatrists can prescribe these.