In most cases, yes; they regularly assist patients with toenail care. While cutting toenails may seem like a simple matter of grooming, there are actually many patients who have problems with their toenails or feet that prevent them from cutting them without professional help.
Medicare will cover the treatment of corns, calluses, and toenails once every 61 days in persons having certain systemic conditions. Examples of such conditions include: Diabetes with peripheral arterial disease, peripheral arterial disease, peripheral neuropathy, and chronic phlebitis.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Your podiatrist can detect a fungal infection early, perform a lab test, determine the cause, and form a suitable treatment plan, which may include prescribing topical or oral medication, and debridement (removal of diseased nail matter and debris) of an infected nail.
Your podiatrist can help you take care of not only your feet and ankles, but also your toenails. One very common condition that podiatrists treat are fungal toenail infections.
Visit a Podiatrist
If you can't trim your own toenails, a podiatrist can do that during your visit. If you are a senior and a diabetic, it's vital that you avoid trimming your own toenails to lower your risk for developing an infection in your feet.
Use a toenail clipper (not a fingernail clipper). If your toenails are especially thick, try a spring-handled tool called a toenail nipper. Cut your toenails across, going with the curve of the toe (see illustration); don't round the corners down as you might a fingernail (see inset). And don't cut toenails too short.
Heavy duty podiatry-grade toenail clippers: We recommend ClipPro nail clippers for our patients. The ClipPro Toenail Clipper is the best consumer nail clipper we have found for extra thick and irregular nails. Its jaw opens up to over 1″ wide and the top of blades is slightly curved to contour around your nails.
Whilst removing the nail will resolve the current problem, the nail will grow back and it is likely that you will be left with the same problem.
Make sure you don't cut the nail too short as this damages the nail bed, and that's going to hurt. Leave 1-2mm of the white end of the nail visible; if you can't see this, you've gone too far. Jagged, sharp edges should be carefully filed smooth with a good emery board.
In extreme cases, where thickened toenails cause constant pain or footwear issues, our podiatrists can remove the thickened nail permanently with toenail removal surgery.
A 'Diamond deb' nail file usually works best, filing the nail 2-3 times a week will usually keep the thickness reduced. You may need to see a podiatrist or chiropodist to professionally reduce the thickness of the nail with a specialised nail drill.
Many ordinary conditions can cause thickening or discoloration of the nails – several of which are treatable with podiatric foot care. Here are the most common reasons why you may have noticed a recent change in your toenails.
Not keeping up with trimming can result in painful ingrown toenails. "If people don't trim their nails often enough, ingrown nails can become a problem," warns Tarr. "As toenails becomes very long, they tend to curl and will grow into the skin." Ouch.
"You are more prone to skin infections such as cellulitis and fungal skin infections if the toenails are not trimmed regularly," says Bruce Pinker, DPM, a foot specialist and owner of Progressive Foot Care.
Studies show that taking antifungal pills and applying medicine to your nails can be more effective than using either treatment alone. Nail removal: If you have a severe infection or other treatments just don't work, your dermatologist may recommend removing the nail(s) to get rid of the infection.
A pharmacist can help with fungal nail infections
nail-softening cream – it's used for 2 weeks to soften the nail so the infected part can be scraped off.
The most common procedure is a partial nail avulsion with matrixectomy. The toe is “frozen” with local anesthetic, the nail spicule removed and chemical introduced to the nail matrix to permanently prevent that section of nail from growing back.
The growth rate of nails decreases when people get older. This results in thickening because nail cells pile up. The process of nail cells piling up is referred to as onychocytes. Another reason why fingernails don't thicken as much is their growth rate is smaller than the growth rate of toenails.
A: Yes. Vicks does have a menthol agent in it that will help soften toenails. Vicks can be purchased at any general store.
“Applying Vicks VapoRub to fungus-infected toenails can clear up the notoriously hard-to-treat condition. Michigan State University clinicians found that applying the product daily to the infected nail cleared the condition in 32 of 85 patients, though it took anywhere from 5 to 16 months…”
What's the correct way to trim elderly nails. Preferably when nails are dry try cut them straight across. If nails are extremely thick then try soaking about 10 minutes first. Thick, ingrown, curving nails should always be cut straight across.
Bacterial infections usually leak pus and, sometimes, blood. Fungal infections produce discolored toenails that are thick, brittle, and smell bad.
Often the reason toenails are difficult to cut, is because as we get older and due to pressure from shoes the nails do become thicker. Thick toenails are uncomfortable as well as unsightly and can lead to further nasty foot health issues.