Whatever you, DON’T get an ingrown toenail in Japan, the dermatologists here know f#ck all and there aren’t any podiatrists!!
I live in Hachioji and my wife (Japanese) got an ingrown toenail last November that grew red and swollen and her doctor gave her antibiotics (抗生物質) to treat they thought was an infection.
Fast-forward to late January/February this year and it hadn’t improved with the antibiotics so she went in again. The toenail had gotten brittle and funky (not sure how to describe it) and the doctor filed (‘scraped’) it down so it wouldn’t protrude and snag so easily.
It seemed to help for a while, but then became even more painful! And now, today her once red and swollen toe is showing a patch of white, which Google indicates might be a fungal infection!
Today is Sunday and she can’t get an appointment, so first thing Monday we’re going to the 総合病院 to have it looked at by a different doctor to get a second opinion about what’s going on.
Is it just me, or has the treatment of ingrown toenails suddenly become impossible to treat?! Back in the day, I would just soak it in epsom salts to soften the skin and ward off infection. But that idea seems foreign here (my wife had no idea what I was talking about)!
Have you ever had a stubborn ingrown toenail here? How did you treat it? Any advice or suggestions would be welcome.
宜しくお願いします。
by Digital-Man-1969