Five causes of ingrown toenails

Is there anything worse than an ingrown toenail, or anything that sounds more disgusting? We’ve often wondered what causes them so that we could perhaps prevent ourselves from getting them – and so, we found out:

Genetics
There’s not a whole lot you can do if this is the cause of your ingrown toenail. Some nails are a shape which is more prone to becoming ingrown, so you just have to pay your toes some extra attention.

Sports
Some sports, such as running or football, cause repetitive stress on your toes. This can make them more likely to become ingrown. One way of combatting this is to invest in the proper footwear.

Not cutting your nails properly
It’s important to cut your nails straight across and not to make them too short. Giving them a bit of a curve and making them too short can lead to ingrown toenails, and it doesn’t sound like super short toenails would feel too nice either!

Shoes that are too small
We’d all love dainty little feet, but squeezing your size nines into something smaller is not doing your toenail situation any favours. They can push the side of your nail into your toenail – ouch!

Injured nails
If you’ve ever dropped something on your toe and the toenail fell off, the nail that grew back is more prone to becoming ingrown. So watch out!