Interventions for ingrowing toenails.

Area of Science:

• Dermatology
• Podiatry
• Surgical Innovation

Background:

• Ingrowing toenails (onychocryptosis) are a common, painful condition with various treatment options.
• Current treatment lacks a universally agreed-upon first-line approach.
• This review evaluates interventions to relieve symptoms and prevent recurrence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of non-surgical and surgical interventions for ingrowing toenails.
• To compare different treatment modalities for symptom relief and recurrence prevention.
• To analyze postoperative treatment effects on healing and complications.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) up to January 2010.
• Included studies on non-surgical (gutter, orthonyxia) and surgical interventions.
• Analyzed outcomes including recurrence, symptom relief, healing time, and complications using risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Main Results:

• Surgical interventions demonstrated superior recurrence prevention compared to non-surgical methods.
• Chemical ablation with phenol during surgery showed a significant reduction in recurrence in one study.
• Postoperative interventions (antibiotics, honey, dressings) showed no significant difference in infection rates, pain, or healing time.

Conclusions:

• Surgical interventions are more effective than non-surgical treatments for preventing ingrowing toenail recurrence.
• Phenol application alongside surgical intervention may enhance recurrence prevention, requiring further validation.
• Postoperative interventions do not appear to reduce infection risk, pain, or improve healing time.