A case of ingrown toenails treated by the super elastic wire insertion method

An ingrown toenail, which causes pain especially with secondary infection, and is one of the most common diseases of toenails. It becomes difficult for a patient to walk and this subsequently impairs the quality of life. Surgical procedures, including total or partial excision of the nail bed, phenolization and the carbon dioxide laser matricectomy method, are commonly performed to treat this problem. The disadvantages of these methods include their complexity, the pain, the time required to do the procedure and the need for local anesthesia during the operation. We present here successful therapy for a patient with ingrown nails with using a super elastic wire (SE-wire, Machiwire®). To the best of our our knowledge, this is the first case that describes the clinical benefits of the SE-wire for the treatment of ingrown nails in a Korean patient.