To cut an ingrown toenail, you need to soften the nail first with a warm soak, then trim straight across rather than digging into the corners. The goal is to free the embedded nail edge without cutting deeper into the skin, which only makes the problem worse. How you approach this depends on how far the nail has grown in and whether there are signs of infection.
Soak Your Foot First
Never try to cut an ingrown nail when it’s dry. A warm soak softens both the nail and the surrounding skin, making the nail easier to manipulate and less likely to crack or splinter when you trim it. Mix 1 to 2 tablespoons of Epsom salt into one quart of warm water and soak your foot for 15 minutes. If you don’t have Epsom salt, warm water with antibacterial soap works too.
Do this daily for several days if the nail is deeply embedded. Each soak reduces swelling around the nail fold, which can gradually expose more of the trapped edge and make trimming possible. Pat your foot completely dry afterward.
How to Trim the Nail
Use clean, sharp toenail clippers or nippers, not scissors. Wipe the blades with rubbing alcohol before you start. The single most important rule: cut straight across. Do not round the corners or follow the curve of your toe. Curved edges create pointed nail edges that are more likely to dig back into the skin as the nail grows out.
Leave about 1 to 2 millimeters of the white tip visible. If you cut shorter than that, you risk damaging the nail bed and leaving the soft skin at the sides unprotected. The nail should sit roughly level with the tip of your toe. Too short invites the surrounding skin to fold over the nail edge, restarting the cycle.
If the ingrown edge is buried under swollen skin and you can’t reach it with clippers, don’t force it. Digging into the corner with clippers or sharp tools can tear the nail and cause bleeding or infection. In that case, try the lifting method below, or see a podiatrist.
Lifting the Nail Edge
For a mildly ingrown nail where the corner is just starting to press into the skin, you can gently lift the nail edge away from the flesh. After soaking, wedge a small piece of wet cotton (pulled from a cotton ball) under the corner of the nail. This cushions the area where the nail meets the skin and encourages the nail to grow outward instead of downward.
Replace the cotton daily after each soak. Over the course of one to two weeks, the nail should grow out far enough that you can trim it straight across. Apply an over-the-counter antibiotic ointment and a clean bandage after each cotton change to keep bacteria out. A hydrocortisone cream can also help if the skin around the nail is red and irritated.
What Not to Do
The instinct most people have is to cut a V-shape into the center of the nail or to trim the corners at an angle. Neither of these actually relieves pressure on the ingrown edge. Nails grow from the base (the matrix behind your cuticle), not from the tip. Cutting a notch in the middle does nothing to change how the sides of the nail grow.
Avoid “bathroom surgery” with nail files, cuticle pushers, or pointed instruments to dig out the nail. Repeatedly picking at an ingrown nail introduces bacteria and can push the nail fragment deeper into the tissue. If the nail is too painful to touch or you can see pus, the situation has moved beyond home trimming.
Signs You Need Professional Help
A mild ingrown toenail causes tenderness and slight redness along one side. That’s manageable at home. But if you notice pus, increasing warmth, throbbing pain, or swelling that spreads beyond the toe, the nail fold is likely infected. A rapidly expanding area of redness, especially with red streaks moving away from the toe, fever, or chills, signals a more serious skin infection that needs prompt medical attention.
People with diabetes or poor circulation in their feet should skip home treatment entirely. Reduced sensation means you may not feel how deep you’re cutting, and impaired blood flow slows healing dramatically.
What a Podiatrist Does Differently
For recurring ingrown toenails, a podiatrist can perform a partial nail removal under local anesthesia. The procedure takes only a few minutes: the doctor removes the strip of nail along the ingrown side, then applies a chemical to the nail matrix (the tissue that produces the nail) to prevent that edge from growing back. A study tracking patients for two years after this procedure found a 99.7% success rate, with only one recurrence out of hundreds of cases.
Recovery is faster than most people expect. You can typically return to work or school the next day. A partial removal takes six to eight weeks to fully heal, while a complete nail removal takes eight to ten weeks. You’ll need to change the dressing every other day until the wound closes. The nail grows back normally from the remaining matrix, just slightly narrower than before.
Preventing Ingrown Toenails Going Forward
Most ingrown toenails come from three things: cutting nails too short, rounding the corners, or wearing shoes that squeeze the toes. Once you’ve dealt with an ingrown nail, trim your toenails every two to three weeks, always straight across, and resist the urge to tear or peel nails instead of clipping them. Shoes should give your toes enough room that they aren’t pressed against the front or sides. If your toenails are naturally thick or curved, clipping after a shower when they’re softer reduces the chance of splintering that leads to ingrown edges.