Toenail removal aftercare or soaking for ingrown toenails
I wanted to post this information for people dealing with Toenail pain or recovering from Toenail removal surgery.
Supplies:
1 inch or 2inch small gauze rolls
Iodine Solution or Peroxide
Pain-free wrap tape (First Aid Tape)
White paper tape ( First Aid Tape)
Foot Bucket
Epsom Salt ( Foot care aisle)
Soak the foot in a bath of warm water and Epsom Salt for 15 minutes twice a day for three to five days. It helps to soak the foot three times a day if the toenail bed dries out and cause you given greater pain. If it really hurts, quickly dunk the foot in the water three times for the first three days.
Place a cap full of Iodine of Peroxide on the wound rinse the germs off the wound.
Wrap gauze around the toe a couple of times.
Tape with white paper tape.
Wrap with pain-free wrap tape to keep gauze in place.
Cover wrap tape with paper tape to keep the bandage in place.
Wear extra large sock or spa sock to keep foot warm.
The pain will be a 6 or 7 on the pain scale for about a week. The first 72 hours is the worst. My podiatrist says it takes a month for the toenail bed to heal and form a protective layer of thin skin.
19lin
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book2075 Thanks for the information. On my foot I had a toenail that was pushing into the middle toe and causing it to bleed. My podiatrists decided to remove the toenail from the tow that was causing the problem. That has been several years ago and since then I have had no problems, nor have I had any problems with the toe that had the toenail removed. I had though that it’s removal might have given me more problems, but it didn’t and I am glad I had it done. 19lin
My Doctor told me to leave his bandage that he put on for 1 week and he would remove it at his office . Also to shower with bags on my feet so as not to get feet wet . I hope this is correct ?
lioness
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@njb54 My Doctor told me to leave his bandage that he put on for 1 week and he would remove it at his office . Also to shower with bags on my feet so as not to get feet wet . I hope this is correct ?
@njb54 yes that is correct I had toenail removed and same instructions from my Dr.Don't get dressing wet infection possibly could set in I just sponged of ,put Plastic bags On feet tightly so water does,it get on the foot let Dr take it off then you can soak in Epsom Salts or just warm water dry and put gauze on.Do as Dr.says
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@njb54 My Doctor told me to leave his bandage that he put on for 1 week and he would remove it at his office . Also to shower with bags on my feet so as not to get feet wet . I hope this is correct ?
Toe continues to bleed slightly thru bandage for the last four days . Is that normal?
lioness
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@njb54 My Doctor told me to leave his bandage that he put on for 1 week and he would remove it at his office . Also to shower with bags on my feet so as not to get feet wet . I hope this is correct ?
@njb54 yes it should slack off by time you get to Dr should be done when,s your appt?
@JustinMcClanahan @book2075, thank you for sharing information about tonenail removal aftercare. I don’t think I have come across this sort of information on Connect in my team, it is interesting.
If you don’t mind me making an assumption, have you gone through toenail removal surgery? If so, what was the root cause of needing the surgery? I imagine that walking without a toenail could be rather painful, how did you manage with that part of the aftercare?
I recently had both of my big toe nails removed. I had chemo back in 2012 ( I am 67 yrs. old today) and had lost all of my fingernails and toenails. They all grew back healthy and normal with exception of the two big toenails. They grew back thick, at an odd angle and were horribly painful. My logic is that as a child I dropped a heavy metal dresser drawer on the left toe and then in my 30s I dropped some canned goods and they landed on my right toe. I am thinking the trauma of those events may of caused some damage unlike my fingers and other toe nails. Just a thought. Regardless they became very painful, so thick that a Dremel drill was needed to trim them and they looked like I had a snail shell on my toe. I have neuropathy in my feet due to the chemo also so it was a constant discomfort. I am very happy having them removed and could almost immediately feel relief. I had one done and two weeks later had the other one removed. They are healing nicely and of course have had some tender moments but not really painful. It has been a month today for the first one and both are on track for a healthy healing. The after care was soaking twice a day with Epsom salt or Dial liquid soap and warm water for 20 minutes. Then bandage with Neosporin for two full weeks. After that the soaking stopped and I was to apply Betadine and leave them uncovered as much as possible unless I had a shoe on and then was told to wear a band aid for protection. That has worked well. I go back in four weeks and I am assuming I will have no further daily treatments at that time. I can assure you I am being careful to not drop anything on them at this point. To answer your question about walking with out the nails, I walked completely normal from day one but found it was a relief to do the soaking treatments. Having the toes bandaged, plus wearing socks and shoes was bit of a crowded feeling. It is a relief to take the socks and shoes off and wear a slipper while being at home.
lioness
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@dlm5148 I recently had both of my big toe nails removed. I had chemo back in 2012 ( I am 67 yrs. old today) and had lost all of my fingernails and toenails. They all grew back healthy and normal with exception of the two big toenails. They grew back thick, at an odd angle and were horribly painful. My logic is that as a child I dropped a heavy metal dresser drawer on the left toe and then in my 30s I dropped some canned goods and they landed on my right toe. I am thinking the trauma of those events may of caused some damage unlike my fingers and other toe nails. Just a thought. Regardless they became very painful, so thick that a Dremel drill was needed to trim them and they looked like I had a snail shell on my toe. I have neuropathy in my feet due to the chemo also so it was a constant discomfort. I am very happy having them removed and could almost immediately feel relief. I had one done and two weeks later had the other one removed. They are healing nicely and of course have had some tender moments but not really painful. It has been a month today for the first one and both are on track for a healthy healing. The after care was soaking twice a day with Epsom salt or Dial liquid soap and warm water for 20 minutes. Then bandage with Neosporin for two full weeks. After that the soaking stopped and I was to apply Betadine and leave them uncovered as much as possible unless I had a shoe on and then was told to wear a band aid for protection. That has worked well. I go back in four weeks and I am assuming I will have no further daily treatments at that time. I can assure you I am being careful to not drop anything on them at this point. To answer your question about walking with out the nails, I walked completely normal from day one but found it was a relief to do the soaking treatments. Having the toes bandaged, plus wearing socks and shoes was bit of a crowded feeling. It is a relief to take the socks and shoes off and wear a slipper while being at home.
@dim5148 I had to have one removed from fungus I had a sock on and when I took it of toenail caught so had it removed the nailbed was affect so it didn't grow back its amazing how much soaking in Epsom Salts helped I still do today when feet hurt or tired ,renews them
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Lisa Lucier, Connect Moderator
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@dlm5148 I recently had both of my big toe nails removed. I had chemo back in 2012 ( I am 67 yrs. old today) and had lost all of my fingernails and toenails. They all grew back healthy and normal with exception of the two big toenails. They grew back thick, at an odd angle and were horribly painful. My logic is that as a child I dropped a heavy metal dresser drawer on the left toe and then in my 30s I dropped some canned goods and they landed on my right toe. I am thinking the trauma of those events may of caused some damage unlike my fingers and other toe nails. Just a thought. Regardless they became very painful, so thick that a Dremel drill was needed to trim them and they looked like I had a snail shell on my toe. I have neuropathy in my feet due to the chemo also so it was a constant discomfort. I am very happy having them removed and could almost immediately feel relief. I had one done and two weeks later had the other one removed. They are healing nicely and of course have had some tender moments but not really painful. It has been a month today for the first one and both are on track for a healthy healing. The after care was soaking twice a day with Epsom salt or Dial liquid soap and warm water for 20 minutes. Then bandage with Neosporin for two full weeks. After that the soaking stopped and I was to apply Betadine and leave them uncovered as much as possible unless I had a shoe on and then was told to wear a band aid for protection. That has worked well. I go back in four weeks and I am assuming I will have no further daily treatments at that time. I can assure you I am being careful to not drop anything on them at this point. To answer your question about walking with out the nails, I walked completely normal from day one but found it was a relief to do the soaking treatments. Having the toes bandaged, plus wearing socks and shoes was bit of a crowded feeling. It is a relief to take the socks and shoes off and wear a slipper while being at home.
Hi, @dlm5148, and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I wanted to mention that you might check out the Connect Neuropathy group, since you mentioned you had neuropathy, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/neuropathy/. Depending on the disease for which you had chemo, there might be other groups in which you'd be interested, if you'd like to check out the group directory, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/groups/
Thank you for the best advice ever!
That was pretty good advice. Thank you.
I had my toenail removed due to fungus. Dr said remove and replace gauze after 2 days. I removed all that was easy and then soaked my foot for 4 hours to remove stuck on piece. Didn't work. Then i tried saline water. Also did not work. What can I do. This is way to painful to try and pull off.
lioness
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MwilffertI had my toenail removed from toebed . Leave it alone as to soak it more it will come off may take longer .just rewrap it with a sterile nonstick gauze then soak again later
@lioness MwilffertI had my toenail removed from toebed . Leave it alone as to soak it more it will come off may take longer .just rewrap it with a sterile nonstick gauze then soak again later
Thank u, i was finally able.to speak to my Dr office and they said the same thing. Patience.
@JustinMcClanahan
@book2075, thank you for sharing information about tonenail removal aftercare. I don’t think I have come across this sort of information on Connect in my team, it is interesting.
If you don’t mind me making an assumption, have you gone through toenail removal surgery? If so, what was the root cause of needing the surgery? I imagine that walking without a toenail could be rather painful, how did you manage with that part of the aftercare?
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