- Office 5, Level 1, 300 Point Cook Road, Point Cook, 3030
Despite their small size, ingrown toenails have the potential to wreak havoc for anyone affected. They’re painful, frustrating, difficult to try to remove, and they can make taking every step and wearing shoes a nightmare. Ingrown toenails are also vulnerable to infection which adds significant risk to your foot health.
The best solution is a simple procedure called a partial nail avulsion (PNA). It involves removing a small section of the side of the toenail that is growing into the skin. We achieve fantastic results with this procedure, it’s quick, simple, done under local anaesthetic so is painless, and we remove only a small amount of the nail edge to keep the toenail looking normal and healthy. Once the offending nail edge has been removed, the surrounding skin is able to heal, the wound is able to close, your painful symptoms will settle, and you will no longer be at risk of infection.
A chemical matrixectomy describes the addition of a chemical to the nail edge during the PNA procedure that destroys the nail-growing cells at the base of the nail. This means the edge of the nail we treat permanently stops growing new nail so you can finally stop repeatedly suffering from ingrown toenails. The rest of the nail continues to grow normally and the skin will move in on the side of the nail so your nail does not have an abnormal appearance. Chemical matrixectomy are effective in approximately 4 out of 5 patients because of the body’s amazing and otherwise integral ability to heal and restore damaged cells.
Completing a PNA without a chemical matrixectomy will give you the same relief from the ingrown toenail you are suffering but does not guarantee that it won’t recur in the future. This is suitable for those that have developed an ingrown nail for the first time, but we recommend a matrixectomy for those that have repeatedly suffered from ingrown toenails as a permanent solution.
