Ingrown nails can be extremely painful and can cause serious issues with general health and wellbeing. In up to 98.5% of cases, surgery offers a permanent solution to recurrent ingrown nails. When an ingrown toenail repeatedly becomes painful or infected, and other conservative treatments have proved unsuccessful, surgery is recommended. A Partial Nail Avulsion (PNA), involves the painless removal of the edge of the nail. The nail matrix is then cauterised, using phenol which prevents regrowth of the removed section of nail.
The procedure involves injecting the toe with a local anaesthetic followed by the pain free procedure which takes about 20 minutes per toe. 1 -2 redress appointments are required the week after the procedure. The wound is usually healed within 2 weeks however can take up to 5 weeks depending on the individual patient. Following the procedure, the patient is able to walk out of the clinic however should not drive as the toe is still numb.
