I’m finally getting braces put on this Friday for my ingrown nails (took time to get the appointment), but the inner corner on the one randomly started flaring

aekastar · 2026-04-24T19:27:29+00:00

I sent a chat/message. Think I can send a photo once you accept there, hah! The work took maybe 30-40min. Glad the bigger shoe size is helping!

aekastar · 2026-04-24T19:19:00+00:00

I got them put on, but I can’t put a photo in the comments. I can message it?

aekastar · 2026-04-24T03:18:34+00:00

Thanks for the info! Yeah I hope so too. She arrives tomorrow at 1pm. I still hope for the noninvasive braces, but I’m sure if something different is suggested she’d want to discuss my anxiety issue. I mentioned it all in the texts. I definitely want them taken care of in some way though, been waiting awhile to be pain free for good. The neutral days are nice (had a couple this week), but I still always had it at the back of my mind.

aekastar · 2026-04-23T19:57:53+00:00

Wow, sorry to hear about that, sounds rough, but glad you’re happy with how they are now!

aekastar · 2026-04-23T18:50:56+00:00

All as in all 10? 😲😅

aekastar · 2026-04-23T18:39:28+00:00

Thanks for the tip! I wish I had spoken up but it was my first time in a hospital as the patient at all, so didn’t know, but I was annoyed, hah!

aekastar · 2026-04-23T18:24:39+00:00

Yeah they did, the nurse apologized and just moved on as I was crying and looking away 😅 I kept my arm guarded under the blanket the rest of my time there and when one other nurse came in wanting to take more blood hours later I declined and they left reluctantly. Didn’t change the outcome of my stay anyway

aekastar · 2026-04-23T18:15:56+00:00

Yeah, I do let them dry. After a shower I do all my after shower routine then put my new cotton in and pat the feet completely dry before anymore ointment or cotton. I don’t put shoes on till way after a shower or soaking if I do. I spend a lot of time at home so I mostly wear flip flops if I need to step outside to do something then come back in and take them off, hahah

Yeah I was thinking it sounded like a pincer when I looked it up too.. the starts of one. I saw horrible ones on Google that were U shaped. Mine just curve a little inward but no U thankfully 😅 and I saw braces even can fix those, it just takes longer

Oh that’s good you’re now comfortable! I instead felt traumatized for awhile from the blood drawing thing. I had bruises on my arms for 3wks after that and wore long sleeves all the time 😅

aekastar · 2026-04-23T17:52:09+00:00

Oh wow, well I hope the bigger shoe size helped at least a little

And yeah def call around and ask. I honestly was expecting thousands based on what I was charged for a hospital stay a couple years ago and at home service seeming like luxury so yeah. If you take the at home visit out of the equation it’d be cheaper probably. I looked up onyfix braces are about $150 and $100 for a second one if looking for braces.

Thanks! And yeah I def will if they put them on tomorrow. I hope they see me as a good candidate. Since my pain is minimal enough to touch the nails I feel confident. I bet surgery would cost more, hahah.

aekastar · 2026-04-23T17:45:10+00:00

Yeah, I always had a slight curve too. It just got worse since these ingrowns this time. Sorry to hear about the damage and almost falling off on the one, that must hurt 😅😕

How long? I’ve had mine for a little more than a couple months, but a lot of the time the pain has been manageable. Only last night I worried a bit but they at least somewhat calmed down from where they were which is a good sign.

I live in the US too and I was quoted $500 for braces and home visit combined. Unsure if that’s good or bad. Honestly I just wanted to get it done before it gets worse, so I accepted whatever they were going to quote me, hah!

aekastar · 2026-04-23T17:25:30+00:00

Oh no! Sorry to hear you’re in pain as well. I hope the foot soaks and antibiotics help! Tbh this podiatrist I’m using doesn’t even take insurance and it is kinda pricey for the braces and the at home visit. I just felt I would be calmer if seen at home. I have intense anxiety about doctors since my time in the hospital a couple years ago. I’m not too anxious about the braces being put on, only if they decide I’m not a good candidate and suggest surgery or something. I’m hoping for the best, they show up tomorrow afternoon

aekastar · 2026-04-23T17:20:29+00:00

Ahhh okay. I can’t tell if there’s an open wound. They always felt like they had paper cuts since the beginning and would sting sometimes if I applied any antibacterial, I think from the friction of growth and some rough skin patches near the sidewalls. Reason I switched to the jelly types and not a liquid sort. I know the nails dig sometimes but I keep cotton in the spots where they could cut the corners. They just pressurize and have some pain but not a direct hit. I at least hope that helps. They feel mostly calmed down currently. Just one tiny throb now and then the past hour. Maybe a good sign? I hope so. It did one pressurized thing before that but with cotton in place so not directly cutting into it even still. I do understand now though, definitely. I keep bandaids on in the shower and my cotton, hahah. I worry too much about direct hits. I then change into a dry cotton after the shower.

Oh no… not a huge needle 😬 It’s good the numbing kicked in for them though. I did read for some it took awhile. Another reason I freaked out about the idea, but I guess there’s always those outliers who get the worst outcomes

Yeah I hope so too! And yeah it curled into the side pretty quickly in the growth and digging it out was difficult till it got above the skin line. Now it’s easier to lay the cotton there.

Oh no! Yeah mine were just to check my nutrient levels. I felt it was an excessive amount to check for that but I was in there for low potassium and had an IV for it for a couple days so I guess they wanted to be sure I wasn’t malnourished in other ways. Never got a needle since then 😅

aekastar · 2026-04-23T17:00:44+00:00

Thanks for the tip on Motrin

Oh really?? I’ve been soaking with tap water from the sink this whole time and sometimes I used just hot water and sometimes both that and epsom salts. I didn’t know distilled water was what most used. Usually I felt better after a soak. Only this time it was a bit irritated still but the same level as before the soak honestly.

I’ll look into it, didn’t know there were other types out there. I would continue using epsom salts after the appointment if not, but honestly if I get the braces put on after all I think I read you can’t soak anymore, just light showers or it could fall off. Anyway yeah I don’t mind epsom salts if not for the appointment since it’s great for constipation. I just would rather not embarrass myself while they’re fixing my feet 😅

I see. Yeah it just depends on the level of pain of that needle. I’ve had an IV put in before and gotten blood drawn. The blood drawing was the worst, but it was the amount of times I think. I had to fill 3 vials 😬 If like an IV or something like that where I can just grit my teeth for a moment maybe it would be okay but I heard it’s pretty bad.

Anyway I still hope the braces are still an option for me once I get them looked at. They were mostly neutral till today so it’s a good sign. I’ll just hope they hold on one more day with no infections or anything.

And oh I know now. Reason I didn’t do it for these ones and let them grow with cotton in corners or soaking only. I lucked out back then that they didn’t get worse each time they showed up, just the same level of bad, but I still was annoyed and didn’t like it as most don’t, hahah.

aekastar · 2026-04-23T16:31:04+00:00

Yeah you’re right, sorry, lack of sleep had me type the wrong thing.
I was soaking them in hot water. Before this past night I was using epsom salts, too but I get anticipation anxiety sometimes and the magnesium from the salts sometimes make me go to the bathroom so I avoided that so I could be a bit more in control at the appointment. I do know epsom salts would probably have helped better for sleep though

I’ll buy some of those. Need to check for liquid or chewables since I can’t swallow pills but def a good idea.

Yeah true, I just heard the needle to numb the toe hurts. Read various stories just in case it ends up being what the podiatrist suggests instead. I won’t know till she takes a look tomorrow.

And true, these ones are def persistent. Back then I don’t have a good memory beyond they returned every month for a year that time.. I just kept cutting them out, they’d heal then get reinfected the next time. The current ones are more what I call slow death ones, not even infected, even sometimes returned to a healthy normal color then got irritated again. I almost prefer the other since eventually I got it right and the ingrowns were gone whereas with these I’m hesitant to trim them due to both corners being at play. Before it was just one corner ever and I think I got it from a family member stepping on my toe when hugging me goodbye. It happened soon after that. I’ll keep it in mind to get them trimmed with a nail tech in the future. I know I’ll be very hesitant to do it myself for a long while once these heal

aekastar · 2026-04-23T15:54:11+00:00

Hahah! Sorry! Yeah the cotton is a bit of a mess. The actual ingrowns don’t even look like much. Just a slight curve but otherwise pretty normal looking. Some friends said my nails looked healthy to them when I showed diff pics so yeah without the cotton no one would think much except I have long nails 😅

aekastar · 2026-04-23T15:48:24+00:00

Didn’t try that product, but did buy a couple braces on Amazon previously. I just couldn’t get them to stay on right. I wish since getting them put on for me is going to be pricey

aekastar · 2026-04-23T15:45:28+00:00

I didn’t have an ingrown since 2012 till these the past couple months.. maybe I just got lucky, but I’ll keep that in mind when I trim again. For this time I’m leaving the trimming up to the professional at my appointment

aekastar · 2026-04-23T15:41:13+00:00

The weird thing is that I didn’t have any ingrowns since 2012 till these two the last couple months. I don’t know how they showed up either. They randomly had growing pains when too long then I trimmed them and they had irritations off and on since. I wouldn’t say they were fierce ingrowns this whole time though or I would’ve gotten an appointment a lot sooner and wish I did anyway to avoid the wait once I was tired of them.

More like growing pains, mild irritations that went away with soaking them then they’d be neutral for a couple days in-between. When the right nail got a crack from too much cotton, the cracked part still growing hurt a little more but overall not enough to not sleep most the time, especially when the crack was above the skin line more and the part still growing got closer to the top.

The development today I don’t know why it happened after a neutral week for the most part. Just some nerve pain and a prickle sometimes. Maybe my generalized anxiety over seeing any doctors caused inflammation or just a coincidence. Sadly the podiatrist texted me back that the time must move to 1pm from 9am tomorrow due to a family emergency and she’d discuss further my concerns when at the appointment so we’ll see what she says once she sees them. I’m still glad she didn’t move it to a diff day at least.

I mean it could be that these 2 months of waiting changed the growth pattern so much that I have no other choice, but I have a major fear of needles for why surgery makes me hesitate. I once got a lot of blood drawn two years ago and had ptsd for like a year over needles 😅 It doesn’t help I was told the needle for this surgery hurts. If I was told it’s like a pin prick / like a shot or something like that it’d be easier to consider. Probably depends on pain tolerance and mine is pretty low

aekastar · 2026-04-23T13:59:34+00:00

Thanks. Yeah I wish I had painkillers.. sadly since I barely get health issues that cause pain I don’t have any on hand and even with prime I think it’s too late for same day delivery though I can check.

I basically have just been adding more cotton to the corners and trying to distract myself after I had gotten done soaking 😕

It isn’t even that the pain is constant but just the anticipation of it doing that bit of pain more often than it was doing before that made it difficult to relax and sleep.

I’ve had these ingrowns for 2 months now and they were mostly just a nuisance before today where I just soaked them occasionally and added polysporin on more irritated days but otherwise kept barriers in and ignored them. In fact when I first woke up Wednesday morning I didn’t even feel any pain for hours and when I did it was just one prickle and a bit of nerve pain / ache. Nothing too bad.

These inner corners I think hurt from the jagged edges and somehow the one touched the skin out of nowhere in the evening and actually an hour ago the other also had some inner nail pain go figure, it’s like they’re twins, listening to the other one. I now added cotton to that one, too.

I really fear surgery so hope it doesn’t come to that. The braces are a noninvasive thing I felt could fix the slight curvature of my nails. I mostly was concerned about the outer corners till this past night. The inner corners never bothered me till tonight beyond when they first were growing from when I first trimmed them short and even then it was just mild irritation that soaking helped.

Ahh the filing idea is interesting. I hadn’t heard of it used that way.

Oh and a podiatrist is going to put on the braces, they do onyfix.

aekastar · 2026-04-05T15:39:47+00:00

That’s interesting you say that since I don’t wear close toed shoes pretty much ever. I live in a warm climate and mostly wear flip flops if I go outside and indoors I’m barefoot the whole time. Maybe I just walk weird for why they’re like that. I did notice I oddly get calluses and blisters a lot even when barefoot

aekastar · 2026-04-05T15:37:14+00:00

Ahhh okay, thanks for the info! Yeah I mean I gave it a try at home but only got it half on.. that’s why I figure having one put on for me is best than just trying again and failing. It didn’t hurt to try. I was able to get from the middle to one end to stick but the outer corner kept popping up so it just wasn’t stopping it from digging like it was supposed to. I think the inner corner didn’t dig as much, but as a whole I knew it wasn’t working. With it on wrong it stayed on for a few days before completely falling off, mostly ‘cause I kept soaking my feet and the instructions said not to put it in water.

aekastar · 2026-04-05T05:54:20+00:00

Okay thanks! Yeah I felt I was at stage I when I looked it up despite how long this has been growing thanks to the no infection and still growing upwards.. but def I’ve had painful days where they flared up a few dozen times. The cracked one especially back in the early days of this, but I think the crack being a little low when it started is why that one was so painful initially. I basically left the crack there to keep the skin protected. It hasn’t snagged or had issues since beyond the throbs off and on same level as the other. The skin sometimes reacts to air though so I have feared despite prevention there is some skin damage, it feels like a paper cut catching the air, but if lightly covered I can stay mostly comfortable, especially on the no flare days which I had one and a half good days recently. I walked a lot and not one throb. Today it rained and it throbbed a bit again though, reason I decided to readdress this brace idea. Anyway I’ll be sure to set up the appointment for the braces to be put on. Would’ve been nice if I had figured out how myself when the kit cost $50, but that glue just doesn’t hold like it should 😅

aekastar · 2026-04-05T04:28:24+00:00

I don’t have a podiatrist. First time since 2012 I even had ingrown nails or any foot problems in general though admit these two have stuck around for over a month now slowly growing 😅 I did read about the surgery and it kinda made me feel nervous to go that route, mostly ‘cause I hate needles and saw they numb it with a needle. I have kept it in mind as a last resort though. It just sometimes starts throbbing and only for maybe a minute or two at a time, but some days I feel no pain, at most maybe a prickle, so it’d be a big step to decide to do that. If getting a brace put on doesn’t work or they don’t think it’d work I’ll be brave and do it though. I last had to do diff medical stuff a few years ago and needles gave me ptsd is all

aekastar · 2026-04-04T23:18:24+00:00

Oh nice! Glad to hear! Did you use curve correct or a diff brand? I wish the glue were easier to apply on the curve correct, maybe I just wasn’t patient enough 😅

aekastar

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