Nail surgery

Patient Information Leaflet

What is Nail Surgery?

Nail surgery is the removal of part of or all of a nail which is causing pain or infection.

A Podiatrist will perform the surgery with an assistant helping and the appointment will last approximately forty-five minutes. We hold surgery on a Monday & Tuesday only at Netherton Health Centre and you will need to attend the redressing appointment booked in the same week. Please feel free to bring a book / handheld electronic / headphones to your appointment. We cannot allow more than one person in the room with you, this includes siblings and or children / babies. Please note as it is a surgical procedure, any child under the age of 16 will need to be accompanied by a responsible adult.

Please ensure you have eaten and had a drink at least an hour before the procedure due to the possible effects of the anaesthetic. If you do not eat or drink the likelihood of fainting and becoming unwell is increased.

What Happens at the Nail Surgery Appointment?

We numb your toe with two injections of local anaesthetic either side of the base of your toe. As you don’t have a lot of fat on your toe this will feel very sharp however it only lasts approximately ten seconds each side! We will test your toe to check it is numb before starting. You will be able to feel us touching and pulling your toe but no sharp sensation / pain. We then remove part of or your entire nail and apply a chemical to the nail bed which will stop the nail regrowing.

After the Surgery

The anaesthetic lasts an hour or two. There is very little pain afterwards although the toe does sometimes start to throb after the anaesthetic has worn off. If this happens, painkillers that you take for a headache will be sufficient.

The toe will be tender for some time, and you will need to be careful not to knock it and to keep it clean. You should not take part in any sport that may cause you to knock your toes until the wound has healed.

You will be given a redressing appointment letter with your nail surgery appointment; this will be scheduled for a few days after the operation so that we can change your dressing to a smaller one. If you cannot keep the redressing appointment, please reschedule your surgery as we will be unable to change it on the day of the procedure and perform the surgery.

We will give you a pack of dressings to take home and use following surgery. We will show you how to redress the toe yourself at the redressing appointment, which we ask you to do daily with the dressings we provide.

Further Information

• Unfortunately, we cannot give a 100% guarantee it will work due to complications however we have a 97% success rate with our operations.
• You will have a very large dressing on your toe so bring some flip flops in!
• If you cannot keep the redressing appointment, please reschedule as we will be unable to change it on the day of the procedure and perform the surgery.
• Please do not wear nail varnish on the toe due to be operated on.
• You will be able to walk afterwards but will have a large dressing in place that needs to stay on and dry until your first redress.
• It invalidates your insurance if you drive with an anaesthetised toe so, please get a lift / taxi home.
• You will need to put your feet up for the rest of the day.
• You should be ok to go back to school or work the next day, but you will need to be able to accommodate the large dressing in your footwear or wear alternative footwear.

• It will take approximately 6-8 weeks to heal, as the use of phenol will delay the healing and will need to be continually dressed daily until it has healed.
• During healing the toe will continue to weep and show signs of inflammation as you have essentially had a chemical burn.
• If you have any concerns with the toe post-operatively, please contact the department directly.
• This is not a cosmetic procedure and due to the nature of the operation you may have some trauma to the nail following the procedure (such as discolouration and or a change in shape).
• There is a very minor risk of temporary or permanent nerve damage following the procedure which may include continuing numbness, abnormal feelings such as pins and needles or electric shock pains, this typically resolves itself and is an extremely rare occurrence.
• You will remain under our care for 4 months post-op and are able to contact the department directly with any concerns. If we have not heard from you at 4 months you will be discharged.

If you have any questions, or if there is anything you do not understand, please contact the Russells Hall Hospital switchboard number on 01384 456111 and ask for the relevant department who issued this leaflet.

If you have any feedback on this patient information leaflet please email dgft.patient.information@nhs.net

This leaflet can be made available in large print, audio version and in other languages, please call 0800 073 0510.