Ingrown Toenail - is "surgery" safe?

10-27-2006, 08:46 AM

Hello and thank you for the amazing insight on this board. I learn so much. A steroid injection into my knee for "bursitis" caused excruciating burning pain, unable to weight bear, unable to have anything touch it, purple knee, purple feet, continued intense pain at rest and activity. The longer I stand the more purple & painful my knee is. The longer I sit the colder it gets, the colder my feet get. Then it was on to "tennis elbow", which caused the same incapacitating burning pain. Constant pain, intractable insomnia, cognitive problems - you all unfortunately know the drill. A bone scan was negative so I got "dumped" into everything from lupus, Raynaud's disease, "Raynaud's of the knee", bursitis, fibromyalgia, or my favorite "I just don't know what to tell you". I question RSD but so far have not been taken seriously so I am trying to learn as much as I can. At any rate, I have an apparent ingrown toenail. My feet are always cold & purple, overly painful like I imagine a type of frostbite would feel. Does anyone know if the "minor" office procedure to separate skin from toenail is a potential cause for RSD or worsening/spreading of RSD? I can't touch this toe, can't even begin to imagine someone else touching it let alone surgical instruments. I am trying to educate myself and make appropriate decisions rather than blindly following standard medical advice. I would very much appreciate anyone's insight or experiences. Thank you very much.

06-05-2007, 08:36 AM

I too have the problem of ingrowing toe nails on both feet and suffer will swollen and painful feet and legs from the RSD, the inflamation is like sunburn and goes half way up the leg.
My chiropodist and Pain Consultant think conservative treatment is best but I would think each case would be different. I would certainly not want to add to my existing pain.

06-05-2007, 10:30 AM

This is an interesting point you brought up..

Although my RSD was from breaking my bones, and then re-injuring the same foot again... a year prior to that (on the same foot) I had the ingrown toenail surgery done.

I had such a hard time after the surgery. I had over 5 different infections over and over again. I couldn't walk for a LONG time, and I had to wear a slipper on my foot to school everyday for about two months. But instead of pain in that toe, it's just really numb. When my doctor put that big needle in to numb my foot, when he hit the nerve my foot jerked and the needle went out through the other side of my toe, squirting the medication stuff everywhere!

Then, a few days after the surgery when I returned to school.. I opened my locker, and the shelf holding all of my textbooks collapsed and one by one they fell out and landed on my toe (And the slipper I was wearing didn't offer much support!), and I bled from one side of the school to the other.

So yes, even if you didn't have a lot of problems after the surgery, I think it could still possibly cause problems afterwards.

How long ago did you have it done? I had mine done about 4 years ago, but I still get ingrown toenails (On both feet).

06-05-2007, 06:19 PM

Dawn,
Some of your symptoms sounds like me. The cold feet, purple knees. Wish I had an answer for your toenail question. I've heard that you can get nerve blocks prior to surgery. Maybe someone else here has more info for you. Your toenail sounds very painful.
Best of luck,
Linmarie

Ingrown Toenail - is "surgery" safe?

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