The long-term esthetic results of two surgical methods for treating ingrown toenails

Özet

Aims: Ingrown toenails can be treated using several surgical methods. The long-term esthetic outcome of such treatments is important for the patients, but the physicians often neglect it. This study aimed to compare the long-term esthetic results of 2 different surgical methods to treat ingrown toenails: lateral foldplasty and lateral matricectomy. Methods: Postoperative photographs of patients’ toes were retrospectively evaluated using a visual analog scale (VAS) and seven criteria: general esthetic appearance of the great toe, nail plate, proximal periungual fold, medial periungual fold, lateral periungual fold, toe distal to the nail plate, and scars. Results: Two investigators evaluated the photographs of 16 great toes (8 treated via lateral foldplasty and 8 treated via lateral matricectomy). Both investigators gave significantly higher VAS scores to the photographs of toes treated via lateral foldplasty, indicating better esthetic results. Conclusions: The present findings showed that lateral foldplasty yields better long-term esthetic results than lateral matricectomy. We suggest that surgeons treating ingrown toenails should choose the lateral foldplasty instead of lateral matricectomy to achieve better esthetic results.