[The hereditary form of pincer nail syndrome]

Over a period of six months a 41-year-old woman had recurrent acute paronychia of both large toes. On inspection all toes had pincer nails. She had no metabolic abnormalities and no history of trauma. Onychomykosis was excluded. Under conduction anaesthesia an Emmert plasty (Haneke's modification) was performed: it revealed osteocartilaginous exostoses in the area of nail gryposis. Subsequent radiological examination showed distally directed exostoses on the tibial side of all toe phalanges, which is an obligatory criterion for the hereditary form of the pincer nail syndrome.