Indications for the treatment of ingrown toenail include significant pain or infection; deformed, curved nail known as onychogryposis; or chronic, recurrent nail-fold inflammation (paronychia).

For mild cases, soak the foot in warm water, keep it clean, and wedge a small piece of cotton under the corner of the ingrown nail to lift it off the skin.

Ingrown toenails occur when the periungual skin is punctured by its corresponding nail plate, resulting in a cascade of foreign body, inflammatory, infectious, and reparative processes.