Ingrown Toenail vs Hangnail
An ingrown toenail is a nail problem. The corner of the nail grows into the skin beside it, and that side of the toe turns red, swollen and sore for weeks if nothing changes. A hangnail is a skin problem. It is a small torn strip of dry skin at the side of the nail, and it heals in a few days once you trim it. If the nail edge has disappeared into the skin, it is ingrown. If a loose flap of skin is catching on things, it is a hangnail.
What it is
The edge of the nail pushes into the soft fold of skin next to it. The skin reacts the way it would to a splinter.
The skin along the nail fold dries out and tears into a narrow strip. The nail itself is not involved.
What it looks like
The nail edge is buried. The skin beside it is puffy and shiny, and there may be a bead of yellow fluid at the corner.
A thin strip a few millimetres long, standing away from the nail fold. The skin around it may be pink where it tore.
Does it hurt
Throbs in a shoe and hurts when anything presses on that side of the toe.
Sore when it catches on clothing, and sore for a minute if you pull it. Easy to forget about otherwise.
Where it shows up
One corner at a time, along the side of the nail.
The side of the nail fold, on hands more than feet. Common in cold weather and with frequent hand washing.
What it does over time
It will not settle on its own while the nail is still digging in. It can go on for weeks and the skin can pile up over the nail edge.
Trim it flat and it heals like any small tear in the skin.
How it is treated
Warm salt-water soaks, roomier shoes, and a clinician lifting or trimming the corner. A stubborn one is treated by numbing the toe and removing a narrow strip of nail edge.
Cut it flush with clean nail scissors — do not pull it. Then keep hand cream on the nail folds so the skin stops splitting.
The one thing they share
Both can get infected at the edge of the nail: That infection has a name: paronychia. The skin fold beside the nail becomes red, swollen and tender, and a small pocket of pus can form.
It looks the same whichever one started it: With a hangnail it comes from a tear that let bacteria in. With an ingrown toenail it comes from the nail acting like a splinter. Warm soaks several times a day usually settle a mild case in a few days. A pocket of pus needs draining, and that is a five-minute appointment.
Do not pull a hangnail
Pulling tears live skin, not dead skin: The strip is attached further down than it looks, so it rips into skin that is still connected. That turns a two-day nuisance into an open wound at the nail fold.
Cutting is the whole treatment: Clean nail scissors, flush with the skin, then cream. Hangnails come from dry, damaged skin around the nail, so the way to stop getting them is to stop the skin drying out.
See a doctor if
The redness is spreading away from the nail fold
There is pus, or the area is hot to touch
A toe has been sore for more than a week or two
The skin has grown up over the edge of a toenail
The same toe goes ingrown again and again
You have diabetes, neuropathy, or poor circulation
