Conservative treatment of ingrowing toenails.

A combination of conservative measures was used to treat 105 patients with 119 ingrowing toenails. The method proved to be simple and cheap, but time consuming. Post-treatment discomfort and the time taken to return to normal activities were acceptable; the cosmetic result was good. Two-year follow-up revealed that the success rate of the method in less advanced cases (stages I and II) was high (96 per cent), although in the long term there was a tendency to recurrence in stage II cases. The failure rate in advanced cases (stage III) was high (up to 62 per cent). Conservative treatment can be used successfully in mild cases of ingrowing toenails.