How to Treat an Ingrown Nail?

he shoes that look good may not be the ones that feel good, and choosing style over comfort can sometimes cause pain. Ingrown toenails are one of the most common side effects of picking footwear that doesn't really fit your feet.An ingrown nail curves down and into the surrounding skin as it grows, causing the skin to grow over the nail. Although fingernails can also become ingrown, toenails, especially the big toe, are more susceptible to this condition.Ill-fitting shoes are one of the main causes of ingrown toenails. Other common causes include cutting your toenails incorrectly, injuring your toe or heredity. If you were born with nails that are too large for your toes or nails that naturally curve, you may be more at risk of developing ingrown toenails. You can work to prevent ingrown toenails by trimming your nails correctly and wearing shoes that give your toes more room. You should also trim your nails regularly, cutting them straight across the top and rounding the edges, to prevent them from growing too long.
Symptoms of ingrown nails include redness, swelling, pain and sometimes pus drainage. You can usually treat an ingrown nail on your own, but your doctor can also perform simple surgical procedures to treat recurrent ingrown nails. If an ingrown nail is left untreated for too long, it can become infected and require antibiotics, so it's best to take steps to remedy an ingrown nail as soon as possible.
If you opted for the stylish instead of the sensible shoes and now have an ingrown nail, you can begin treatment immediatel.

How to Treat a Torn Nail?

It can happen so quickly: You snag your nail on the car door, you stub your toe, or you absentmindedly chip away at your nail polish, and suddenly you're left with a torn nail -- in severe cases, you could even separate a nail from your nail bed. Many things can cause painful torn or separated nails, but those nails will heal if you take the proper steps.
To understand how your nail tears, it helps to know what a nail is. Nails -- on fingers or toes -- are composed of a nail bed and a nail plate. The nail bed is the soft area of skin beneath the nail plate, which is the hard surface of the nail. Cells at the bottom of the nail bed make up the nail matrix and produce layers of a protein called keratin -- keratin builds the nail plate and anchors it to the nail bed. When your nail tears or separates, the nail matrix grows the new nail.The ways you can tear your nail plate are endless, but the most common way people tear their nails is by trimming them incorrectly -- they cut their nails at the wrong angle, leaving a tear or hangnail.Your nail plate can also separate from your nail bed if it's slammed between two things, such as a door and a door frame, or if you have a condition that causes it to fall off, such as a fungal infection. Nails may also be more prone to breakage if you have nail psoriasis, if you use chemicals like acetone to remove nail polish or if you take certain medications or are undergoing chemotherapy.Both nail tearing and nail separation can be painful, and they don't heal quickly -- you have to wait for them to grow back. But there are a few simple steps you can take to help the nail grow back and to prevent tearing and separating your nails in the future. Read on to learn what you can do to help heal your torn or separated nail.

How to Treat a Nail Infection?

Nails are more than simple protective coverings for sensitive fingers and toes. Your nails are living, growing parts of your body, and as such, they can get sick just like the rest of your body.
Infections of the nails and the surrounding skin can result from injury, ingrown nails, split and separated nails and other more serious conditions. Infections not only cause pain, but they can also affect the way your nails grow and can impact your overall health.
Nails seem vastly different from the outer layer of skin known as the epidermis, but they are merely the hardening of the top layers of epidermis. On thicker-skinned parts of your body, such as your palm, the epidermis comprises five layers -- at the tips of your fingers and toes, these outermost layers of the epidermis harden into nails. These nails, made from a protein called keratin, protect the sensitive tissue underneath and make it possible to use fingers and toes for scratching and other purposes.
 An infection occurs when foreign bodies, such as viruses, fungi and bacteria, get inside your body. Infections may seem like mild matters, but they can become serious complications for people with other medical conditions or if they go untreated and spread. Signs of infection include redness, swelling, irritation and pain. Infected tissue is also warm and tender to the touch and may produce pus.No infection should go untreated -- not even one in the smallest toenail. On the next few pages you'll learn why nail infections occur and how you can treat them.

How often should I file my nails?

Whether out of concern for your fingernails' health or just out of habit, you've probably used a nail file at some point. Filing your nails is a good way to manage any chips and jagged edges that result from broken nails and the demands you put on your hands daily. But aside from fixing occasional damage, filing your nails on a regular basis is also good practice for general upkeep.
How often filing is needed to keep nails at a manageable length will vary depending on the person. The average person's fingernails grow about 0.08 to 0.12 inches (2 to 3 millimeters) in a month, so trimming and filing about once a week should suffice for most people.However, if you find your fingernails grow faster or slower, you can adjust the length of time between filings accordingly. Interestingly enough, how much and how often you file your nails might also vary over the course of your lifetime. Nails typically grow faster during the summer months and during a woman's pregnancy.As you age, your nails grow at an increasingly slower pace.As a result, you might have to adjust your manicuring habits from time to time.When it comes to your toenails, you can relax on the amount of filing. Toenails usually grow slower than fingernails, at about 0.04 inches (1 millimeter) per month.
As a result, you might have to adjust your manicuring habits from time to time.When it comes to your toenails, you can relax on the amount of filing. Toenails usually grow slower than fingernails, at about 0.04 inches (1 millimeter) per month.Regular nail maintenance involves several separate steps, including cleaning, trimming and filing for smoothness.

How often should I cut my nails?

Taking proper care of your body includes attending to the small, easy-to-forget areas, such as fingernails and toenails. After all, these small parts play an important role in protecting your sensitive fingertips and toes from injuries. So keeping them properly trimmed is one of the best ways to avoid major nail problems, such as jagged edges or hangnails, which can keep them from doing their protective duties.
But how often do your nails need to be cut? The answer depends on what kind of tasks you use your hands for. For example, if you play the violin or work on car engines a lot, you might want shorter nails, and you'll have to clip them more often to maintain the shorter length. But if you work in a beauty- or cosmetic-related industry, you might prefer having longer nails and cut them less often to attain your desired length.
Another factor to consider is that different nails tend to grow at different rates. Fingernails grow faster than toenails, and the nails on your middle and ring fingers grow faster than the others. Nails on your dominant hand might also grow faster than those on your other hand. On average, fingernails grow about 0.004 inches (0.1 millimeters) a day. But you might find that you need to cut some nails more often than others.n any case, what is most important is that you cut your nails regularly, and make sure you don't leave jagged edges behind to catch on clothing, causing the nail to tear. It might be helpful to set aside a time once a week to trim your nails, so that regular maintenance becomes a habit. Trim your nails with a proper nail clipper, clean underneath the tips and then file down any rough spots with an emery board.If you have weak or brittle nails, you will want to keep nails fairly short to reduce the risk of having them break or split. To avoid splitting them, you can also try clipping them just after a bath or shower or after soaking them in water.

How often should I cut my baby's nails?Faqs

Babies can easily endear themselves to adults, simply by wrapping their tiny fingers around the grown-up's thumb. On those tiny fingers, though, are tiny fingernails, which can grow all too fast for parents who are afraid of accidentally nicking their newborn during a nail-trimming session. But not attending to those nails introduces the risk that the baby might easily scratch himself. So, unpleasant as it might seem for both baby and parent, trimming the child's nails is a necessary task. But how often should it be done?
This is a common question for many parents. By the time your child is born, he already has soft, flexible nails that might be difficult to trim but can still leave behind scratches on his smooth skin. In general, as soon as your baby's nails grow out long enough to scratch himself or someone else, they need to be trimmed. Also, keeping your baby's fingernails clipped will do more than just protect his soft skin; it will also help prevent ingrown nails that could require a trip to the pediatrician. It might seem scary at first, but once you get the hang of clipping those nails, you probably won't dread the ritual as much as you once did.As for how often you need to grab those clippers, it can vary based on how fast your child's fingernails grow. In general, you should make trimming your baby's nails a weekly or semiweekly routine. For newborns, you might find you need to trim the nails more often to keep up with growth.Some doctors recommend not trimming nails during the baby's first few weeks, because they are so soft and flexible that nicking the skin is a risk. If this is the case, small baby mittens might prevent any scratching damage until the baby's nails grow stronger.

How often should I buff my nails?

Your fingernails are a subtle but important part of the impression you leave with others. When you shake a person's hand, borrow a pen or text a friend, for example, someone is probably going to notice your hands and nails. So whether you prefer manicured, polished nails or opt for a more natural look, you might want to consider buffing as part of your nail care routine.
Buffing, a nail care technique that involves rubbing lightly against the nail with a buffing board or cream, can make your nails shine and smooth out any uneven ridges in them. Also, some buffing treatments can provide health benefits to your nails, including stimulating blood circulation for healthy nail growth.
 There are a few factors to keep in mind as you're deciding when to buff your fingernails. First off, buffing too often or too vigorously can thin and weaken your nails.Therefore, you probably should buff your nails only about once a month. If your nails do not have ridges, or you use a colored nail polish and don't need to shine your nails, you can consider allowing a longer time between buffings.In addition, the average person's nails grow at a rate of 0.08 to 0.12 inches (2 to 3 millimeters) per month. Given this rate, it can take three to six months for your nails to grow from cuticle to tip. This is why it's important to gently buff your nails only when needed so that the same spot doesn't get buffed too much -- in this case, less really is more.

Do you need a base coat before you apply nail polish?Faqs

You don't need to go to a salon and spend tons of money to get the perfect manicure or pedicure. Experts say you can do it yourself at home, provided you follow all the right steps.
Those steps start with a clear base coat, which helps the polish stick to your nail more easily. A base coat also creates a barrier that helps protect your nails from the damaging effects of nail polish. It prevents staining and peeling, and it will give your polished nails a more even texture.
Base coats come in plain and ridge-filler varieties. Ridge-filling base coats are thicker than regular base coats. They fill in any lines, ridges and grooves to give the nails a smoother looking appearance.
Many base coats are fortified with substances such as protein, vitamin E or calcium. These ingredients help keep nails healthier and prevent breaking, splitting and peeling.
After the base coat dries (and it should dry relatively quickly), apply two coats of colored nail polish rather than one, to give the nails a richer look. If you want to skip the colored polish altogether, you can use a base coat on its own to make the nails look shiny but natural.
Finish off the manicure or pedicure with a top coat to seal in the polish, make the nails shine and prevent chipping. Some products combine a base and top coat, but they may not work as well as the individual top and base coats.
Anyone with a sensitivity to nail polish should be careful -- base coats have a higher resin content than regular nail polish, and are the cause of many nail polish allergies