【Health】Paronychia, which hurts the heart, is actually a → caused by these bad habits

Have you ever been in this situation? In daily life, there may be redness and swelling of fingers and toes, pain and discomfort, and even affect walking and hand activities, which may be paronychia!

What is paronychia?

Paronychia is infection and inflammation of the skin around the nail, often due to bacteria, fungi or trauma. The disease is not only aesthetically affected, but also causes constant pain and discomfort, and in severe cases, may even lead to further infection.

What causes paronychia?

• Trauma: Some people see a barb on the side of their toenail and tear it off with their hands, only to accidentally tear out the blood, which allows bacteria to enter and cause infection. Or because of the bleeding from the injury, the bacteria "take advantage of the weakness".
• Wrong toenail scissors: Improper toenail cutting, with sharp corners on both sides, or too short a cut, are easy to squeeze the soft tissues on both sides to grow in the middle, causing the toenail to embed into the flesh and form an ingrown nail. This is one of the "main culprits" of paronychia.

  

• Shoes do not fit: shoes are too tight, the toe toe is too pointed, and the big toe is squeezed for a long time, and the toenail is easy to grow savagely, embedded in the flesh, and form an ingrown nail.
• Disease factors: Congenital hallux valgus, nail dystrophy, thick nails, or onychomycosis (gray toenails) may also lead to the formation of ingrown nails.

In addition, people who get frequent manicures, obesity, frequent strenuous exercise, and always working in a wet/watery environment are relatively prone to paronychia.

Paronychia's "growth history"

Paronychia is not painful and unbearable at the beginning, it has a development process: stage I (inflammatory stage): the structure of the nail (toe) is intact, the lateral nail fold is red and swollen, keratinized, no exudate, the edge of the nail (toe) can be buried in the red and swollen fold, and there may be pain when squeezing the nail perinac. Stage II (abscess stage): the fingers (toes) are markedly deformed, the pain continues to worsen, there is serum-like or purulent discharge, and sometimes there is a foul smell. There is a slight granulation hyperplasia, and the lateral nail margin is exposed by separating the periungual tissue. Stage III (granulation stage): the nail (toe) is severely deformed, the nail plane is low, inflammatory granuloma is formed, and the lateral nail margin cannot be exposed when the periungual tissue is separated, which is also called ingrown paronychia.

What should I do if I have paronychia?

1. External coating: In the early stage of paronychia, rub with 2% iodine wine or soak the affected finger (toe) in hot water, 2~4 times a day, 5~10 minutes each time.

2. Stuff cotton: use vigorous iodine or iodophor for local disinfection, use sterilized tweezers, select the cotton wool on the soft cotton or cotton swab to fill under the fingernails (toenails), and remove the secretions under the nails before filling the nails to keep the local dryness.

3. Nail extraction: If paronychia is severe or there is subungual empyema, you need to go to the hospital for nail extraction. However, nail extraction is only a treatment for the current paronychia, and paronychia may still recur after the nail erupts.

How can I prevent paronychia?

• Choose the right shoes: Wear big shoes on your feet, don't stuff them! Twisted melons are not sweet, and shoes that are worn are not comfortable.
• Cut the right toenails: When you were a child, your mother taught you to cut short, round toenails, but doing so can easily cause paronychia. The correct way to cut is to cut the toenail as flat as possible, with both sides flush with the middle, leaving at least 1 mm or so of the white part, and then polish the corners of both sides properly until they are not sharp.

  

• Pay attention to hygiene: wash your hands and feet frequently, and pick out the toes (fingernails) between your nails. After washing your hands and feet, you can properly apply some hand cream and petroleum jelly to protect the skin around your toes (fingernails) and enhance your antibacterial ability.
• Avoid injury: Usually walk and exercise, pay attention to protect your hands and feet, and avoid paronychia caused by toe (finger) nail injury.
• Handle barbs correctly: Don't tear them off with itchy hands when you have long barbs! If you are not careful, you may tear out a large bleeding hole. Doesn't it smell good to gently cut it off with nail clippers?

A little toenail has a lot to learn

If there is already a problem

Seeking medical attention as soon as possible and treating it correctly is the right way to go

I hope everyone can stay away from paronychia

Have healthy and beautiful feet

Editor: Cheng Huanying, Wen Jialin

Editor-in-charge: Chen Guangtai

Maintain good lifestyle habits and stay away from paronychia!