Why do I get Hangnails or Ingrown toenails?
A Hangnail is a small piece of torn skin along our fingernails and or toenails. Hangnails are often the result of dry skin or nail biting. Treatment of hangnails is simple, the excess skin can be trimmed with clean scissors and then prevent over drying of area. Maintaining our skin moisturized will prevent these incidents from occurring. Hangnails are most common in cold weather as the cold will tend to dry up our skin more so than normal. In dry weather keep your hands warm and maintain an optimal level of moisture to ensure you do not get any excessive incidents.
Ingrown toenails are by far one of the most uncomfortable things we can encounter. An ingrown toe nail is when the nail grows into the skin. The characteristics of an ingrown toenail would be pain, redness, and inflammation. Ingrown toenails are typically a result of excessive pressure applied to toe(s). Ingrown toenails can be treated with warm soaks 3-4 times a day, followed by massaging of the affected area, and the placement of cotton underneath the nail to prevent further damage. Although most ingrown toenails are easily preventable (cutting/trimming of nails in a square like shape vs a rounded edge) sometimes genetics can be the final culprit in determining why we suffer from ingrown toenails. Should the recurrence of an ingrown toenail occur often a visit to a podiatrist can help resolve and cure your ingrown toenail.
