Turns out our favorite walk maven, Wendy, got black toenail on a recent hike. She gives us black toenail facts along with a photo. (Actually, after reading the info and seeing the picture of her toe, shouldn't it be called 'black and red toenail'?)
Always wanting to follow in Wendy's footsteps :D, I too have a toe issue to reveal. My toe situation came to a head, so to speak, in my podiatrist's office last Friday where I had a matricectomy.
Stunned? Shocked? Amazed? Just kidding but still...here's a little something all walkers should know about.
Matricectomy is simple, common, in-office surgery to treat ingrown toenail. My ingrowns have probably been forming for years but with a recent increase in walking to help combat weight gain, they've been a recurring nightmare. The surgery took all of 20 minutes.
If you have problem ingrowns and are wondering what to do -or- you're already contemplating the surgical option, you might be interested in my mini-diary below. Drama will continue when I have the other toenail surgisliced soon.
Day of Surgery: Getting the 3 shots used to numb my toe was really painful. After that, I didn't feel a thing!
Day After Surgery: Anesthetic wears off and I go onto Bayer Low-Dose Enteric Coated aspirin--it does the trick.
Three Days Out: Lots of drainage, swelling. Stopped taking aspirin. Took three 10 minute walks in open-toe shoes--all is okay.
Five Days Out: Drainage tapering and pain virtually gone--it just looks like the dickens. Put on walking shoes and went to two meetings. Felt pressure. Returned home and soaked toe. Will check in with podiatrist, as planned, in two days.
If you're truly into seeing physical details (like me--I was a bio major), you can go to my box.net locker and see a post-surgery snap. It's rated G for gooey.
Image: Flickr, Originally uploaded by bcostin, TRUE Magazine, 1949
Tags: matricectomy, ingrown toenail surgery, matricectomy photo
