UKC

In a bid to rival Adders' scabs thread yesterday, this is my contribution - except unfortunately it's serious.

Have ingrowing toenails and - yum - septic toes at the moment. My climbing shoes aren't super technical but they fit pretty snugly - are they likely to have contributed?

any recommendations for a way to get my shoes on (and thus do some climbing) without being in agony?

Sorry this is so disgusting for a friday afternoon, folks...

In reply to Clare: Ah so that your excuse for not getting in 2 your climbing shoes - not the freezing cold...

In reply to es:

no, at Burbage south it was the cold! I'm a lightweight!

In reply to Clare:
i presume you mean the big toes

have the nails removed - quick, easy and no more pain

In reply to Ian:

oh god that reminds me of my mum - my brother had to have one big toenail removed by the doctor for something or other, and when it looked like the other big toenail was heading in the same direction she just ripped it off in the kitchen. Evil woman...

My toes are gross enough thank you without a lack of toenails!

In reply to Clare: you're missing out
i had mine out and can even fit into smaller climbing shoes now

In reply to Ian: Surely having your nails pulled out is a well known from of torture, No?

In reply to es:
it is, as is having spikes/wedges shoved underneath them

just the big 2 ones for me, and it was for medical reasons, not for "then i can wear #3 anasazis instead of these #8's"

In reply to Clare:
Grab your nail clippers and a file then cut a small 'V' shaped notch in the middle of the nail. It all depends on how bad your nails are, but it relieves pressure on the sides.

John

In reply to Clare:

Nice. My housemate had to have his big toenail removed. Hed had ingrowing nails done but wore climbing shoes too soon after the procedure! Best way is to avoid climbing shoes till fixed if you want to keep the nails...

In reply to Anni:


hmmmm, thought so...

it's all rather grim....

Had the same problem about ten years ago. Go see a chiropodist for a wedge resection with phenolisation. They take the edge of the nail away and the phenol kills the root. No problems since then! Don't think you'll get it on the NHS tho'.

In reply to Clare:

you can hae a resection done by either
a GP or clinic or chiropodist.

this means chopping off the outer edges all
the way down to the root so you get slimline toenails
and arnt left with ugly toes.

you geta local anaestethic (sp?) and basically yes they
cut them down and pull em out. the pain only lasts overnight for me. took about 2..3 weeks before climbing shoes were an option.

its not as good or permanent solution as getting the whole
lot out but has helped me without having to wait 18months
for an appointment to have the whole lots pulled out and munged.

cheers

In reply to Clare: I blame my climbing shoes for one of my toe nails splitting in half from the middle of the tip to the root and the 1/2 falling off. Nice, doesn't hurt though.

In reply to Clare: no contest, this is far far minging compared to my light hearted scab thread yesterday.... congrats

In reply to Adders:

I know... if you saw my toes you'd agree... (or be sick)

In reply to lithos: I had the same problem as Clare, on my left big toe. Very uncomfortable, but I've no idea whether my rock boots were a contributory factor.

My GP cured it with a wedge resection. He actually had to repeat the procedure a few months later because the first time he didn't do the phenolisation properly and the damn thing regrew! Little/no pain on either occasion - I walked out of the surgery unassisted and wearing ordinary shoes both times, and had (reasonably snug) rock boots on again within a week or two.

On the basis of this experience I'd definitely recommend having this done if the doc agrees, if only to see if you can avoid having the whole nail taken off.

You can still keep your toenails with a bit of care. Difficult while they're still septic, but it all comes down to how you cut them, not really the shoes you wear, though if you cut them badlt then rock shes will compound the problem.
Cut them straight across not around the side. When you cut them around the side, the skin statrs to grow in and over the nail. So it's not so much an ingrown toenail, as an overgrowing toe.
It takes a while to get it back to normal, but trim the skin back not the nail!

In reply to Clare:

I had the operation described above, where they removed the sides of my nail.

Previous to that I had the nail removed totally by a GP - he f*cked up the anaesthetic, so when it came to removing the nail there was none. That, I can tell you, is probably the most pain I've experienced in my life. So when I went for the other operation, I had it done under general - much better!

In reply to Clare:
Does your mum work? Would she consider a lucrative carreer change? I'm sure that the yanks could find a position for her at their Guantanamo bay prison - Chief Inquisitor probably.

In reply to Clare:
This is a true story.

My toenail problems started a long time agoa as the result of cornish granite heat waves and EBs,

Over the years I suffered from painful toes resulting from ingrown nails and tight rockshoes. I decided to take the plunge and have my big toenails removed. I heard that I could get the job done on the cheap: 10 pound at Salford University's chirpody school, with the work done by students, but under expert spervision. Now I'm not normally queasy but when the nervous student started to prod my toe with needles to check for sensitivity, my subconcious said something like "something unpleasent may be about to happen, lets bail out"

I fainted!



They panicked!



















999: Cardiac Arrest!!!



I woke from my snooze to find a couple of ambulance men peering into my dilated pupils. They new the score and were bemused by Salford Uni Chirpody Schoiol's lack of basic first aid skills. Hoever it was called in as a cardiac arrest so I had to endure the embarrasment of blues and twos on the way to Salford Hope Hospital. I spent 90 minutes wired to an electrocardiograph before they kicked me out to run for a bus.

I have learned to live with my toes (but open toed snadals don't help my pulling power!). If I choose rockshoes with a soft top to the toebox, I can get them tight enough to perform well on smears and match edges etc.

Good luck

Kevin

In reply to Clare:

Had an ingrowing toenail a while back. Doc said they are normally caused by people living in their trainers, which makes their feet sweat and swell. The nail then irritates the flesh causing more swelling. Then if it bleeds the chance of infection is high. etc etc etc.

My advice: stop climbing and sought your foot out. It'll be easier in the long run. Oh, and cut your nails straight across and not curved as this increases the chance of irritation and hence the risk of further ingrowing toenails.

Advice no.2: buy a finger board and pull up bar for while you are not climbing.