An ingrown nail is the result of a nail growing into the skin that surrounds it. This often occurs at either edge of the big toe. Ingrown nails may be caused by improper trimming, inherited nail deformities, injuries, fungal infections, or pressure.

If the nail isn't infected, your doctor may trim the corner of it to help relieve your symptoms. He or she may need to remove one side of your nail back to the cuticle. The base of the nail is then treated with a chemical to keep the ingrown part from growing back. Severe infections or ingrown nails may require antibiotics and temporary or permanent removal of a portion of the nail. To prevent pain, a local anesthetic may be used in these procedures. This treatment is usually done at your doctor's office.

Abnormally thick or crumbling nails may be caused by injuries, pressure from shoes, fungal infections, or conditions such as diabetes, psoriasis, or vascular disease. Eventually, the nail may loosen and fall off.

If the nail isn't infected, your podiatrist may be able to thin it by trimming, filing, or grinding. If a fungal infection is present, oral or topical anti-fungal medications may be needed. This can help prevent ulcerations under the nail while keeping the fungus from spreading to other nails. If pain is still present, the entire nail or part of it can be surgically removed. Do not remove the nail by yourself.

A black-and-blue nail is usually caused by sudden or repetitive injury to a toe. This might occur during sports that involve running or stopping quickly. The injury may also result from a heavy object falling on a toe. If your toe is black and blue but not injured, see your doctor immediately.

If pain is severe, the nail may be removed, or a hole may be drilled in the nail to allow drainage, which relieves the pressure. A local anesthetic may be used. Pain may also be relieved with prescription medications, or by soaking or icing the area. If pain is not severe, you may not need treatment. The nail can be thinned or left alone to fall off. A new nail should grow to replace it.

In general, the term "hammer toe" describes a buckling of any of the toe joints. Joints at the end or middle of the toe, as well as the joint near the ball of the foot, may be affected. Toe joints usually curl because of a muscle imbalance or tight tendons. Hammer toes vary in severity and in the number of joints and toes involved.

If your symptoms are mild, changing shoes may be all the treatment you need. Using a splint or pad to hold your toes straight also may help. Or try cushioning corns and calluses with felt padding. If your symptoms are severe, surgery may be needed. The type of procedure often depends on whether your toe joints are flexible or rigid.

The plantar fascia is a ligament-like band running from the heel to the ball of your foot. This band pulls on the heel bone, raising the arch of your foot as it pushes off the ground. But if your foot moves incorrectly, the plantar fascia may become strained. The fascia may swell and its tiny fibers may begin to fray, causing plantar fasciitis. Plantar Fasciitis if often caused by poor foot mechanics. If your foot flattens too much the fascia may overstretch and swell. If you foot flattens too little, the fascia may ache from being pulled too tight.

Reducing symptoms is the first goal. Then your podiatrist will work to correct the cause of your problem. If your pain is due to poor foot mechanics, custom-made shoe inserts (orthoses) may help. Your podiatrist may consider surgery if other types of treatment don't control your pain.

These are small bony spurs that often develop on the bottom of the heel. They do not really cause any problems. Almost always the pain associated with heel spurs is really plantar fasciitis The heel spur may form in response to the plantar fascia's tug on the heel bone.

Heel spurs are pointed, bony outgrowths of the heel, that are caused by localized soft tissue inflammation and can be located at the back of the heel or under the heel, beneath the sole of the foot. Plantar fascitis is associated with inflammation caused by heel spurs on the soles of the feet. Both conditions are treated with ice application and anti-inflammatory medications. Orthotics may also provide some relief. Most cases of heel spurs can be treated by the simple, conservative means of Heel Cups, Heel Seats, Heel Pads, Arch Supports, and Insoles.

Corns and calluses are your body's response to friction or pressure against the skin. If your foot rubs inside your shoe, the affected area of skin thickens. If a bone is not in the normal position, skin caught between bone and shoe or bone and ground builds up. In either case, the outer layer of the skin thickens to protect the foot from unusual pressure. In many cases, corns and calluses look bad but are not harmful. However, more severe corns and calluses may become infected, destroy healthy tissue, or affect foot movement. With your doctor's help, corns and calluses can be controlled.

Calluses and corns may go away by themselves eventually, once the irritation is consistently avoided. They may also be dissolved with keratolytic agents containing salicylic acid, sanded down with a pumice stone or filed down with a callus shaver, or pared down by a professional such as a podiatrist or a foot health practitioner.

Before 1937 (when commerce in medicinal cannabis was effectively banned by a federal law in the United States), topical corn remedies usually contained tincture of cannabis, whose antibacterial properties were an effective agent. In addition, the inclusion of cannabis provided the herbal green appearance expected by consumers of the day.

Also known as a treatment, is (in circles of tumbadoras in afro-cuban music) to urinate on the specific area, let it dry and then wash it off. Although this may seem to be like a folkloric habit and in this time area pretty laughable, it proved to work equally well as any other medicine.

A bunion is generally considered as an enlargement of the joint (a lump of bone) at the base and side of the big toe. Bunions form when the toe moves out of place. As the big toe bends towards the others this lump becomes larger and the bunion can become painful. Arthritis and stiffness can eventually develop.

If the bunion has progressed past a threshold where these measures are not effective, bunion surgery may be necessary to correct alignment and remove the bunion.

When a bunion first begins to develop, take good care of your feet and wear wide-toed shoes. This can often solve the problem and prevent the need for any further treatment. It may help to wear felt or foam pads on the foot to protect the bunion, or devices called spacers to separate the first and second toes at night. These are available at drugstores. You can also try cutting a hole in a pair of old, comfortable shoes to wear around the house.

If the bunion gets worse -- resulting in severe deformity or pain -- surgery to realign the toe and remove the bony bump (bunionectomy) can be effective. There are over 100 different surgical techniques that have been described to treat this condition.

Diabetic ulcers are sores that occur when pressure cuts off the blood supply to the skin. Stress caused by the body's weight and the impact of striking the ground place the ball of the foot, the big toe, and the heel at greater risk. Left untreated, an ulser may allow infection to enter your body. If infection reaches the bloodstream or bone, your life or limb may be at risk. But with your doctor's help, pressure ulcers can be controlled and even prevented.

Foot ulcers in diabetes require multidisciplinary assessment, usually by diabetes specialists and surgeons. Treatment consists of appropriate bandages, antibiotics (against staphylococcus, streptococcus and anaerobe strains), debridement and arterial revascularisation.

Wound dressings

While there are many types of dressings used to treat diabetic foot ulcers there is little evidence of superiority of one over the other. Hydrogel dressings may have a slight advantage over standard dressings, but the quality of the research is of concern. Thus it is recommended that the cost of the product be taken into account.

Hyperbaric oxygen

In 2004, The Cochrane review panel concluded that for people with diabetic foot ulcers, hyperbaric oxygen therapy reduced the risk of amputation and may improve the healing at 1 year. They also suggest that the availability of hyperbaric facilities and economic evaluations should be interpreted. "Drs. Ted Sosiak and Wayne Evans make a shocking claim in the Ontario Medical Review. They say that HBOT [Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy] could save up to 75% of the more than 2,160 amputations that occur every year in Ontario due to diabetic foot ulcers that will not heal. And that HBOT treatment could save $100 million and the costs of chronic disability caused by amputation".

Negative pressure wound therapy

This treatment uses vacuum to remove excess fluid and cellular waste that usually prolong the inflammatory phase of wound healing. In spite of very straightforward mechanism of action, there are lots of inconsistent results of negative pressure wound therapy studies. Research needs to be carried out to optimize the parameters of pressure intensity, treatment intervals and exact timing to start negative pressure therapy in the course of chronic wound healing.