You shouldn’t try to remove an ingrown fingernail yourself. Unlike ingrown toenails, which get more DIY attention online, ingrown fingernails sit in an area with dense nerve endings and rich blood supply, making self-removal risky for infection and further nail damage. What you can do at home is reduce the swelling and pain enough for a mild case to resolve on its own, and know when a doctor needs to step in.
What You Can Do at Home
A mildly ingrown fingernail, one that’s red and tender but not oozing pus, often improves with consistent soaking. Submerge the affected finger in warm water for 15 minutes, twice a day. This softens the nail and the surrounding skin, giving the nail edge room to grow out naturally instead of pressing deeper into the tissue. You don’t need Epsom salt or any special additive, though warm salt water won’t hurt.
After soaking, gently dry the finger and apply a thin layer of over-the-counter antibiotic ointment to the irritated skin. Cover it loosely with a bandage to keep the area clean. Between soaks, avoid pressing on the nail or trying to dig underneath it with tweezers, scissors, or anything else. The tissue around the nail is already inflamed, and poking at it introduces bacteria directly into a wound.
If the nail edge is slightly lifted after soaking, some people feel tempted to wedge cotton or dental floss underneath to redirect growth. This is actually a legitimate technique, but it’s meant to be done by a doctor using sterile, sometimes medicated materials. Doing it at home with household cotton risks trapping bacteria against broken skin and worsening the problem.
Signs the Nail Is Infected
An infection around the nail, called paronychia, changes the situation from “wait and soak” to “get it treated.” Watch for these signs:
- Pus buildup: White, yellow, or greenish fluid collecting under or beside the nail.
- Increasing redness and warmth: Skin that’s hot to the touch and spreading redness beyond the immediate nail fold.
- Throbbing pain: Pain that gets worse rather than better over a day or two of soaking.
- A visible abscess: A swollen, pus-filled pocket forming next to the nail.
If home soaking doesn’t improve things within a day or two, or if any of these signs appear, you need professional treatment. An untreated nail infection can spread deeper into the finger and, in rare cases, reach the underlying bone. Left alone long enough, the nail itself can grow in ridged, discolored, brittle, or detach from the nail bed entirely.
Who Should Skip Home Care Entirely
If you have diabetes, peripheral artery disease, or any condition that suppresses your immune system, don’t attempt home care for an ingrown fingernail. These conditions reduce blood flow and slow healing, which means even a small break in the skin can escalate into a serious infection quickly. Contact a doctor at the first sign of an ingrown nail rather than waiting to see if soaking helps.
What a Doctor Actually Does
For a mild ingrown fingernail, a doctor may gently lift the nail edge and place a small wedge of medicated cotton or a thin piece of dental floss between the nail and the inflamed skin. This separates the nail from the tissue it’s digging into, relieves pain almost immediately, and guides the nail to grow outward. It’s a quick office visit with no cutting involved.
For nails that keep coming back ingrown or are severely embedded, the next step is a partial nail removal. The doctor numbs the finger with a local anesthetic (the numbing typically lasts up to 24 hours, so you’ll have extended pain relief afterward). They then detach and remove just the portion of the nail that’s causing the problem, preserving the rest of the nail so it looks and functions normally once healed.
If the same section of nail keeps regrowing into the skin, a doctor can perform a matricectomy, which destroys the specific part of the nail root responsible for that strip of nail. This can be done chemically or surgically. A partial matricectomy targets only the problem area while leaving the central nail intact, so you still have a normal-looking fingernail. This is the most reliable solution for chronic ingrown nails that don’t respond to less invasive treatment.
Preventing Ingrown Fingernails
Most ingrown fingernails result from trimming habits. The key rule: cut your nails straight across the top with only a slight curve at the tip. Rounding the corners too aggressively or cutting them too short exposes the nail edge to the surrounding skin fold, where it can dig in as it grows. Use sharp, clean nail clippers rather than tearing or biting nails, which creates jagged edges that are more likely to catch on skin.
If your work involves repeated pressure on your fingertips, like typing on a hard surface or manual labor, keep nails at a moderate length rather than trimming them extremely short. A nail that extends just slightly past the fingertip has less opportunity to curl into the skin. Wearing gloves during rough manual tasks also protects the nail folds from micro-injuries that can trigger ingrown growth.