My Oh So Painful Ingrown Nail
Keeping up with your nails can sometimes be a pain in the butt. My polish doesn't always stay on and my nails get brittle some times. I can deal with those things but what I can't deal with is an ingrown nail. An ingrown nail happens when the nail grows into soft skin causing it to swell, to turn red, and yes...PAIN! I'll admit I'm a crybaby when it comes to annoying pains. So to help with the throbbing pressure it causes here is what I do.
As you can tell my finger is infected...GROSS, right?
What you'll need:
Epsom Salt
Hydrogen Peroxide
Tea Tree Oil
Neosporin
Band Aid
Ibuprofen
Alcohol
Bowl
A Needle
Q-tip
Towel/Napkin
Step 1: Fill er' up. Your going to need to fill your bowl about half way with warm water. The hotter the better, for mixing in the Epsom salt. Mix in a tablespoon of Epsom salt. (Optional: some times I also add in 2 tablespoons of peroxide) If it is too hot for you to touch you can always let it sit for a while to cool so it is more easy to handle.
Step 2: A salty soak. After the salt is dissolved soak your finger for about 10-20 minutes. I went ahead and soaked my whole hand (like a mini manicure ha ha). Epsom salt contains magnesium which works wonders for the body. Soaking will help with the elimination of harmful toxins.
Step 3: Let it fizz and foam. Now that your done soaking your finger, go ahead and dry it off, pour a cap full of peroxide on the infected area. My mom used peroxide on all our cuts and scraps as a kid my favorite part was when it fizzed up, cause I knew it was really working to kill all the bacteria.
Step 4: The secret ingredient. Grab your q-tip and dip it in the tea tree oil. Rub it all over the affected area on your finger. I love tea tree oil it is great for SO MANY things. This will really help with the infected wound and also with the inflammation... I'm not a huge fan of the smell, it can be a tad bit strong, but for all the benefits it offers I found it easy to overlook.
Step 5: Prick the pus. It's very important that you sterilize your needle first, you can do it different ways. Method 1- you can sterilize it with Alcohol, by rubbing the needle with it or soaking it in it. Method 2- you can sterilize it with fire, by holding the needle over an open flam. After you have sterilized the needle, prick the infected area. You want to do this to drain the pus to relieve some of the pressure and make your finger more manageable to find where the ingrown nail is. Squeeze the skin around the finger to push all the pus out or at least as much as you can.
Step 6: Be a detective and find the ingrown nail. You want to push the skin away from you nail bed to see if you can find where you nail is growing down. If you do find it, this would be the time to trim it.
Step 7: Seal it with antibiotic ointment. Take your Neosporin put it on, right between the nail and the skin. This is for prevention of infections and a speedy healing time for the wound.
Step 8: Don't forget to wrap it up. Keeping it protected with a Band Aid will keep out unwanted germs and prevent any further infections.
And as you can tell all we had at the time were La La Loopsy Band Aids. But it's cool I'm not ashamed to wear it...
Repeat the process up to 3 times a day until your finger is healed.
By no means am I a doctor or a professional these are just the methods I use on myself, which I find to be effective and very helpful. Remember that everyone is different and if the pain is unbearable or the infection is very bad please seek medical help.
