CAPS original papersTreatment of ingrown toenails in the pediatric population
Section snippets
Methods
A retrospective chart review was performed on all patients referred to the pediatric general surgery clinic of 2 Canadian pediatric treatment centers, between the ages of 2 and 16 years, between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2005, for assessment of IGTNs. Only those who ultimately had a surgical procedure by 1 of 6 surgeons were analyzed. Data collected included demographic variables, comorbidities, previous treatment modalities, physical findings at the time of surgery, use of antibiotics
Results
Five hundred eighteen patients with a total of 848 affected IGTNs were analyzed. All were of the great toe. The average age of the patients was 12.5 ± 2.7 (SD) years, and 65% were male. Only a small number of patients had any presenting comorbid conditions (2.5% diabetes, 2.4% developmental delay). The median length of time that the patients had experienced problems with the IGTNs before presentation was 16 weeks; 25% of patients had experienced problems for more than a year.
The lateral side of
Discussion
Ingrown toe nails are a common problem in the pediatric population, especially among adolescents. Decisions to choose one mode of therapy over the other should be guided by clinical presentation, experience, and evidence of what works best.
Conservative treatment of minor cases of IGTNs entails a combination of warm water soaks, topical/oral antibiotics, education about proper nail trimming, and manipulations to separate the corner of the nail from the adjacent soft tissue. In a recent study,
References (19)
- et al.
The effect of phenol on ingrown toenail excision in children
J Pediatr Surg
(2005) - et al.
A prospective comparison of wedge matrix resection with nail matrix phenolization for the treatment of ingrown toenail
J Foot Ankle Surg
(2001) - et al.
The etiology and out-patient management of ingrowing toe-nails
Br J Surg
(1963) - et al.
Management of ingrown toenails
Am Fam Physician
(1995) Management of ingrowing toenail
Br J Surg
(1989)Embedded toenails
Lancet
(1975)- et al.
The surgical treatment of ingrowing toenails
J Bone Joint Surg
(1991) - et al.
Surgical treatments for ingrowing toenails
Cochrane Database Syst Rev
(2003) - et al.
Chemical matrixectomy with 10% sodium hydroxide for the treatment of ingrowing toenails
Dermatol Surg
(2004)
Cited by (0)
Presented at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Pediatric Surgeons, August 23-26, 2007, St John's Newfoundland, Canada.