What type of surgery can be done to treat an ingrown nail?
• Many types of surgeries can be done to treat an ingrown nail. Often, a caregiver will cut and remove a small section from the side of your nail. The section of nail is cut from the side of the fingernail or toenail that is ingrown. • Your caregiver may also do a procedure called a matricectomy (ma-trih-SEK-tuh-me). During this procedure, the caregiver destroys part of the nail matrix. Your nail matrix is the “root” of your nail (area that your nail grows from). You can see the top part of your nail matrix by looking at your fingernail. The matrix is the pale or white color at the base of your nail. Most of the matrix cannot be seen because it lies underneath the skin. A matricectomy causes a small section of the side of your nail to stop growing. You may continue to have problems with a recurring (keeps coming back) ingrown nail or bad infection. If this happens, your caregiver may need to remove your entire nail to stop the ingrown nail problem.
