To anyone who gets this: do not let the podiatrist convince you to do the partial removal. Ask your podiatrist if a full nail avulsion could be preferable to a partial avulsion if minimizing chance of reoccurence is the most important factor to you. Ie, removing a tiny strip from one or both sides of the nail. It is HIGHLY likely it will get bad again. Have them do a full phenol cauterization and remove the entire nail. You dont need it, and you’ll be better off without it. However, I’m no doctor.
gives medical advice explicitly in opposition to a hypothetical doctor
says they’re not qualified to give medical advice because they’re not a doctor
leaves
Your personal experiences with procedures are valid, fam, you can just say it didn’t do you or a friend any good and you wish you’d done something else instead.
Personally I love it when people who are not my doctor offer me specific, actionable medical advice. Especially so when it entails surgery to permanently remove my body parts
I also had that procedure where the doctor only removes the affected part of the toenail. That was over a decade ago and I’ve never had the issue reoccur; and I still have my toenail.
On the flip side, I had partial nail removal on two toes each side, and haven’t had any issues in 20 years. Procedure was quick, mostly painless, and the relief was immediate. I was playing soccer 3 days later.
If you want to ask about a full removal, go for it, but be open to professional advice.
Yeah the science is above my head but I believe usually after they rip out the nail (be it whole nail or a strip), they will apply a cotton ball of phenol to the bed and that is supposed to stop the nail from coming back. It failed to do so 3 times in my case, albeit on two different toes.
To anyone who gets this:
do not let the podiatrist convince you to do the partial removal. Ask your podiatrist if a full nail avulsion could be preferable to a partial avulsion if minimizing chance of reoccurence is the most important factor to you. Ie, removing a tiny strip from one or both sides of the nail. It is HIGHLY likely it will get bad again. Have them do a full phenol cauterization and remove the entire nail. You dont need it, and you’ll be better off without it. However, I’m no doctor.gives medical advice explicitly in opposition to a hypothetical doctor
says they’re not qualified to give medical advice because they’re not a doctor
leaves
Your personal experiences with procedures are valid, fam, you can just say it didn’t do you or a friend any good and you wish you’d done something else instead.
Personally I love it when people who are not my doctor offer me specific, actionable medical advice. Especially so when it entails surgery to permanently remove my body parts
deleted by creator
Fair, edited to bring the final choice back to podiatrist.
Also anecodtal: I had the procedure you’re describing and it worked for me. Ignoring your podiatrist is bad advice
I also had that procedure where the doctor only removes the affected part of the toenail. That was over a decade ago and I’ve never had the issue reoccur; and I still have my toenail.
I’ve also had the same procedure before, three times (on different parts of nails, obviously) and it’s worked every time.
I had it done once when I was still a child, and the issue reoccurred. No issues for more than a decade from the ones I had as an adult though.
On the flip side, I had partial nail removal on two toes each side, and haven’t had any issues in 20 years. Procedure was quick, mostly painless, and the relief was immediate. I was playing soccer 3 days later.
If you want to ask about a full removal, go for it, but be open to professional advice.
Oh, if you add phenol the nail won’t grow out again?
Yeah the science is above my head but I believe usually after they rip out the nail (be it whole nail or a strip), they will apply a cotton ball of phenol to the bed and that is supposed to stop the nail from coming back. It failed to do so 3 times in my case, albeit on two different toes.
It’s chemical cauterization. The phenol kills the cells responsible for growing new nail.