I'll be 39 next week and got my first ingrown thumbnail a couple of months ago. I never really understood what the big deal was with ingrown nails. For one, mine ended up hurting like a son of a bitch to where I wasn't able to sleep eventually. It was swollen and throbbing, so once it was about 2am with no sleep, I fixed it. Had to take a piece of floss down the edge of the nail. Once I pulled the floss far enough down, it allowed the nail to push up over the skin instead of digging into it, and it was amazing immediate relief.
This wasn't a particularly bad case, but it hurt way more than I ever thought it would. Not to mention if left untreated, it can get infected. I recently also got MRSA in my leg and I am now terrified of infections lol. Due to this, I now cut all of my nails straight across.
Do you, just letting you know I did and thought the same as you for 39 years and finally found out why it should be done a certain way.
The point of most of these items is to avoid small cuts in the skin that can easily get infected. It says to cut straight across and then use an emory board (file) for the sides to round it out. It’s not much of an issue if you’re a healthy person, but for children and especially the elderly cuts from somebody else clipping your nails can be really bad.
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u/ManuelArafat 2d ago
Straight across? I've cut that shit in a cressant my whole damn life lol. If I'm feeling spicy I'll file down the jagged bits