초록
Treatments of severely incurved toenails cause anatomical changes and cosmetic problems, even though they provide adequate symptom relief. Incurved toenail patients treated with a K-D$^{(R)}$ (S&C Biotech, Seoul, South Korea) the new device for correcting curved nail deformity were investigated retrospectively. This study surveyed 12 patients(18 cases) who had been treated for severe ingrown toenails using K-D$^{(R)}$ from May 2008 to March 2009, and examined their subjective satisfaction before and after the treatment. The average age of the participants was 39 (ranging from 27 to 52), and 8 of them were male and 4 female. The treatment was applied after the patients were given a thorough explanation about the tool and the treatment, and questionnaire surveys were conducted before the treatment and after 3 months on the average from the treatment. In the survey, the respondents were asked about pain, restriction on activities, and the selection of shoes. For each item, symptoms with a given point were presented, and the respondents' scores were compared between the surveys before and after the treatment. According to the results of the questionnaire survey, pain increased from 14 out of 40 before the treatment to 39 after, activity restriction increased from 11 to 30, and shoe selection increased from 20 to 30. The average total score increased from 45 to 98, and this suggests a considerable enhancement in the patients' subjective satisfaction. The average period of the application of K-D$^{(R)}$ was $20.3{\pm}9.4$ days, and in all the cases, ingrown toenails were corrected within three weeks.