Radical wedge resection for ingrown toenail: long-term results.

This paper describes an operation for ingrown toenail that is simple, has a low recurrence rate, leaves patients with an intact, pain-free, cosmetically acceptable nail-bearing toe, and permits the wearing of normal shoes within a short period of time. Among the numerous techniques devised for the treatment of ingrown toenail, no other operation fulfills all of these criteria. It is usual to sacrifice appearance in the hope of cure. During the last 20 years we have adopted a radical wedge resection that has the advantage of resulting in permanent healing and a good-looking toe. After a first series of 67 cases thus treated without a single recurrence, the technique was used in a further series of 339 cases reported here.