This Little Piggy

This little piggy went to market
This little piggy stayed at home
This little piggy had roast beef
This little piggy had none
And this little piggy went "Wee! Wee! Wee!" all the way home

Ever heard of this nursery rhyme? I learnt it from the nephew Bulat's toy given by ccw. Nephew Bulat loves the part "Wee! Wee! Wee!" very much when he was still a little baby. It is ticklish to him by just listening to it!

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I love to count baby Cola's toes and tell him that he has 5 little toes on his foot.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, five toes!"

I always start counting from his big toe.

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Yes, this post is about toes! And I have ingrown nails on both my big toes!

They hurts me!

I googled for ingrown nails last night and found the article from Wikipedia.

"Symptoms of an ingrown nail include pain along the margins of the nail (caused by hypergranulation that occurs around the aforementioned region), worsening of pain when wearing shoes or other tight articles, and sensitivity to pressure of any kind, even the weight of bed sheets or a duvet. Bumping of an affected toe with objects can produce sharp, even excruciating, pain as the tissue is punctured further by the ingrown nail. By the very nature of the condition, ingrown nails become easily infected unless special care is taken to treat the condition early on and keep the area as clean as possible. Signs of infection include redness and swelling of the area around the nail, drainage of pus and watery discharge tinged with blood. The main symptom is swelling at the base of the nail on whichever side (if not both sides) the ingrowing nail is forming."

Yes, I am suffering from all the above for months!

I was still thinking to wait for the nails to grow out then the problem might gone.

But, I read the below from Wikipedia:

"Most practitioners agree that trying to outwait the condition is nearly always fruitless, as well as agonizing."

OMG!!!!!

Now, I do not know what I am waiting for.

Read on what will happen if it is left untreated from Wikipedia:

"If an ingrown nail is left untreated, there exists a high risk of dangerous infection. When the skin around the nail gets infected, it begins to swell up and put even more pressure against the nail. Ingrown nails can produce a spear shaped wedge of nail on the lateral side of the toe which will progressively become more embedded into the toe tissue as the nail grows forward. In the worst case, the swelling will begin putting sideways pressure on the nail, causing it to grow at a slant. This will cause both sides of the nail to eventually become ingrown and swollen. Eventually the swollen parts of the skin will begin to harden and fold over the nail. An untreated ingrown toenail will cause a person to walk with a limp, which over a long period of time may cause further pain and injury to the foot, leg and back owing to improper distribution of weight. Other non-direct effects of seriously ingrown nails include lack of exercise, constant and unrelenting pain and pressure which is often extreme and debilitating when weight has been on the foot for an extended period of time, the spread of infection, loss of appetite, inability to move around, and psychological effects (like anxiety, stress and feelings of despair).

An untreated infection may also lead to a condition known as osteomyelitis, where the infection spreads to the bone of the infected digit. Once in the bone, the infection is more difficult to remove and may require the intravenous treatment of antibiotics. One should always consult a doctor when infection is present. Amputation of the toe, foot or leg may be the final outcome if the infection is left untreated long enough for gangrene to set in as a result of a foot ulcer, most common on people with diabetes."

AMPUTATION! NO! NO! NO!!!!!!

I never know that ingrown nail can be so serious! I just hope my toes recover magically! :(



Reference site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingrown_nail


p/s: Wikipedia understands what I am going through so well! I am so touched!

p/p/s: I just learn that there are special tools for ingrown nails such as ingrown nail lifter, ingrown nail clipper, and toe cap! I think I need the toe cap!