Ballet Pointe Shoes - Ingrown toe nail?

by Tammy
(Singapore)

Ballet Pointe Shoes - Ingrown toe nail?

Hi there Odette.

I am writing to you today for the very simple reasons about the much annoying ingrowth toenails and hoping for some remedies that you could suggest. I have been having ingrown toenail on both toes for a quite a long time now, y'know where the sides of the toe swell up and shows some redness. I've been applying se antiseptic cream around the folds of the nails(as what most people said to do on the web, I did some research) recently and I just wanna confirm with you if that is the best thing to do? Or are there, in your years of experience, more better ways to cure? By the way, it doesn't hurt that bad. Its just I'm afraid of might affect my dancing, which is something I don't want it to happen. And is it true that dancers with in growth toe nail can't go on pointe? I appreciate your quickest reply and have a great day!

Yours truly,
Tammy :)


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Reply by Odette
To: - Ballet Pointe Shoes - Ingrown toe nail?

Hi Tammy,
Thanks for your message, it's great to hear from you. I can't say I've had an ingrown toenail myself, but I am very much aware of them and seen lots of dancers deal with them through the years.

I know you must worry it may affect your dancing, but always when things like this happen you have to look at the big picture and see what is best to do in the long term. If your toes look very irritated and swelled up, it wouldn't be good to dance on pointe with the risk they could get worse. You have to keep managing them well and let them recover as best as possible if not completely.

There are a few of my friends who have had to get surgery their nail to put an end to the ingrowning nail. This isn't to scare you or panick by the word 'surgery', it is just a way to fully fix and get rid of the problem once and for all. You should have to look into it more if you were to consider this.

Otherwise, there are ways I was taught to try and prevent the ingrown nails. One method is to tape around the toe (where the nail is), but do it in a specific way that you hold the skin with the tape by the nail and gently wrap it around your toe. This separates the skin and the nail so that the nail doesn't get caught in the skin.

I only taped my toe like this for pointe work or ballet class if I felt my nail and skin were starting to get caught or sore. Although if the skin is very red and irritated, I wouldn't recommend putting any extra tape or plaster as you want to let it heal first.

If your ingrown nails still don't go away after you've given it enough time to heal, then you want to look at seeing a podiatrist (foot doctor) who will give you the best solution to cure your nails.

Don't panick, it can be fixed!

Best wishes,
Odette