READ FIRST: I'm just a guy who's had ingrown toenails and then stumbled on a way to manage them and I think (fingers crossed) put them behind me. One time I even had to go into a podiatrist and have an ingrown toenail surgically fixed. It was not pleasant. A buddy turned me onto this topical solution called Outgro (pictured to the right). It's cheap and it really works. Basically it numbs the area where your ingrown nail is digging into your sensitive skin, (so that's nice) for some quick pain relief. Secondly, when the skin is numbed up it's more manageable to get in there with the right (sterile) tools and fix the problem yourself. This Outgro stuff is cheap and works well, but for whatever reason isn't at most drug stores (at least where I live) so I order it online. It's surprisingly cheaper that way too.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Cost of Ingrown Toenail Removal

The cost of ingrown toenail removal varies and depends on a number of factors including the severity of the problem and type of insurance if any that the patient has. To a lesser extent the area of the country (or even world for that matter) where the individual resides and seeks medical treatment plays a role.

For folks with a problem worth seeing either a general physician or a podiatrist foot specialist it's important to speak to your insurance provider in order to pay as little out of pocket as possible while still receiving the highest quality of care available. For many people they get their health insurance through their work or through their spouses employer. Before scheduling doctor's visits and racking up bills while blindly hoping to be reimbursed it is very much worthwhile to spend at least a few minutes calling the information line for your insurer and speaking to a live person about your cost questions.

In order to be as informed as possible and able to ask the right questions once you finally get a customer service representative on the phone it's worthwhile to spend some time reviewing any literature you've received from your insurer. It's likely that when you first enrolled you received a welcome packet with information to study up on. Do yourself a favor and review this information now and if you can't find the original packet then request another copy be sent to your house or place of business. Additionally there is sure to be info available online at your disposal 24 hours a day regardless of where you live. Take some time to educate yourself and you'll reduce the chance of wasting money on inferior care.

There are some simple home remedies worth trying in an effort to avoid excessive costs like tea tree oil for ingrown toenails and Outgro ingrown toenail treatment. Generally speaking for these strategies to be successful the patient needs to catch the problem pretty early on to have the best chance of short or long term success. For those brave souls willing to try their hand at self-medicating their ingrown toenail problem this website has posted an ingrown toenail removal video but viewers are strongly advised to read and consider all of the warning before undertaking such an effort.

Finally for general advice on how to help ingrown toenails refer to the first post of this blog which directs individuals on some smart and easy ways to both prevent and manage these sorts of issues.

Finally another alternative strategy for limiting the cost of ingrown toenail removal is simply to search for free clinics in your area. While these likely won't be the most state of the art facilities they will in all likelihood prove more than sufficient for this sort of routine operation.