• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.347-352
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• 2006

Ingrowing toenail has been treated conventionally by various surgical treatment modlities. However, none of these procedures are perfect to achieve esthetic results with low cost, recurrence, and complication rates. Although mild cases can be treated conservatively, in severe recurrent cases, surgical treatment is preferred. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of using partial matricectomy and paronychial advancement flap for correction of recurrent ingrowing toenail. Eight patients suffering from recurrent ingrowing toenail were operated using partial matricectomy and paronychial advancement flap in our department from August 2004 to August 2005. The number of recurrent episodes ranged from 2 to 5. With digital nerve block, the excision area was marked on nailplate and inflammed lateral nail fold. The horizontally designed paronychial flap considering defect size was effective for wide exposure of the neighboring germinal matrix, which is later to be completely excised or cauterized because remnant germinal matrix made postoperative spicule formation. The nailplate on the affected side was removed about 3-5 mm width longitudinally, being cautious not to damage the proximal dorsal nail fold. The same width of the sterile matrix including germinal matrix was excised longitudinally with inflammed granulation tissue and partial lateral nail fold on the affected side. The subcutaneously elevated paronychial flap was advanced to cover the defect and was anatomically sutured with 5-0 nylon sutures. We evaluated our procedure's effectiveness by examining some factors such as cosmetic results, recurrence, spicule formation, postoperative pain and duration of return to normal activities. In eight patients, no complication was observed such as recurrence, severe pain and spicule formation except for 1 case of infection. Postoperative discomfort was minimal. Average duration of return to normal activities was 12 days. Cosmetically the results were acceptable in all patients. The partial matricectomy and paronychial advancement flap for correction of recurrent ingrowing toenail were found to be technically simple, efficient procedure with a relative low recurrence rate and better cosmetic results.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.274-278
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• 2023

Ingrown toenails are most common among school-age children and adolescents though they can be observed at any age. Causes of ingrown toenails are increased curvature, trauma, and external pressure. Treatment of ingrown toenails can be broadly characterized as conservative and surgical. Conservative treatment can be performed using various methods, such as a gutter splint, dental floss, and cotton. Surgical treatments may be divided into two main approaches; narrowing of the nail plate and debulking of periungual tissues. However, these various conservative and surgical treatments have high recurrence rates, and thus, the author used a permanent surgical method based on the use of a paronychium flap to treat a 15-year-old male adolescent with excessive periungual tissues and curved ingrown toenails who did not improve despite conservative and several surgical treatments over 4 years. Subsequently, toenail shape was maintained without recurrence 22 months after surgery, and there were no complaints of inflammation or pain while walking. This simple surgical method can be performed on patients with advanced ingrown toenails due to excessive periungual tissues and nail curvature and can be expected to have permanent effects.