The holidays are coming... its time to shop till you drop and book a foot care appointment!

I've had the pleasure of meeting a couple that are 8 months pregnant and provided ingrown toenail care for her. They were driving around on a Saturday and seen on Google that I was open, they knocked on my door and I was open that Saturday. I welcomed them in and started my assessment and a treatment plan. The toenail was thick and needed to be cleaned. She was told a month ago to have epsom salt soaks from her maternity doctor although there was much more needed. The nail was growing into the side of her nail instead of laterally. The more the nail grows into the side of the skin, the more swelling, redness, warmth, discharge, pain, and discomfort we will see. If these symptoms above are all present at the time of an assessment, we want a physician follow up appointment ASAP, especially if this has been ongoing for a month. Their is a high chance of infection and we do not want to wait any longer, as an infection that has been in your system can turn into sepsis (the infection is now in our blood and is life threatening). What does a foot care nurse do? Assess, reduce any pain as best as we can (we can care for the nail although we are not able to remove any nail that is deep into the tissue). Cleanse, trim, file, reduce thickness, nail correction band for pain relief, physician follow up appointment. 
This was an appointment that really stuck out to me last weekend and I am happy I was able to provide care for this growing family.

Thank you for reading,

-nurse nicki