It would seem like a simple question, but the answers to it are given very differently, not only by ordinary people, but also by doctors. In medical reference books, information on the topic also strangely does not coincide. “Why shouldn’t this be the same? – you will be surprised. “What options could there be?” Actually, there are three of them.
The first is to cut your nails in a semicircle, as most of us usually do . The second is in a straight line, without cutting corners. The third — in a semicircle on the arms and in a straight line on the legs. But what is correct? Let's figure it out!
The shape of a crescent (semicircle) is a classic of the genre. Objections against it are based on the fear that it is easier for a nail cut in this way to take and grow under the skin. And an ingrown toenail not only causes pain, it also becomes inflamed. For a healthy person this may not be so scary, but for someone suffering from diabetes it can result in the amputation of a finger or the entire foot. And if you consider that half of patients with diabetes do not know about their diagnosis and cut their nails as God pleases, and not “according to science,” and thereby expose themselves to risk, the manicure and pedicure topic becomes especially relevant.
< p>So is it really necessary to leave corners along the edges of the nail? Of course not!
Collage: MedNews
It’s the corners that dig their sharp tip into the skin, especially if the shoes put pressure on the toes, forcing the nail go the wrong way. And in comfortable shoes you can get the same effect if you stumble out of the blue. The impact will cause the nails to bend, and the uncut edges will dig into the skin, causing infection to enter the wound and inflammation will begin.
If this happens, we usually act radically — we cut off the edge of the nail that has dug into the skin. This should be done after a 15-minute warm bath with salt, soda or a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Usually this is enough to forget about the problem, but sometimes the nail (most often on the big toe) continues to grow into the nail fold with manic persistence. And here tight shoes and stumbling out of the blue have nothing to do with it: the fact is that the notorious nail grows rapidly in width, but simply does not have time to lengthen in height. It is precisely this disproportion of growth that doctors explain the problem of ingrown toenails. Trim it often, without allowing it to injure the skin.
Sometimes you can come across this advice: try to lift the ingrown edge using a thick thread or flagellum as thick as a candle wick. It is suggested to do this to change the direction of nail growth: slip a flagellum under it and leave it for several hours, and then try to move it deeper. But if the problem is a disproportion of growth, then a flagellum cannot overcome it. You just need to cut the edge of the nail as it grows, that is, a couple of times a week, and in a circle, not in a straight line.