What causes redness and swelling around the nails?

Redness and swelling around the nails may be a symptom of paronychia. Paronychia is also a relatively common disease that can cause great pain to patients. Treating paronychia also requires patience and persistence. Because this disease is not as easy to treat as a cold or fever. Below, we will introduce the causes, clinical manifestations and treatment methods of paronychia in detail.

1. Disease Overview

Except for the free edge, the other three sides of the nail are connected to the skin folds, and the connecting part forms a groove, which is called the nail groove. Paronychia is an infection that occurs in the nail groove. A subungual abscess is an infection between the nail and the nail bed. The two can be transformed into each other or exist at the same time.

2. Causes of Disease

Paronychia is mostly caused by punctures, abrasions, ingrown nails or pulling out "inserted skin thorns" of the nail groove and surrounding tissues. Subungual abscess is often caused by the spread of paronychia, infection caused by subungual puncture, or secondary infection of subungual hematoma caused by fingertip compression injury. The main pathogen is Staphylococcus aureus.

3. Clinical manifestations

At the beginning, one side of the nail groove will become red, swollen and painful, and it may become purulent and infected within a short period of time. It may spread to the base of the nail and the opposite nail groove, forming perionychia, or it may spread to the subungual area to form a subungual abscess. At this time, the pain intensifies and the swelling is obvious. Yellow-white pus can be seen under the nail floating up the nail. If not treated in time, it may develop into purulent dactylitis and even cause phalangeal osteomyelitis. It may also become chronic paronychia, persistent paronychia or subungual abscess. Because the infection is relatively superficial, the systemic symptoms are often not obvious.

IV. Treatment Methods

In the early stages, hot compresses, physical therapy, external compresses, and the application of iodine amines or antibiotics can be used.

If there is pus, a longitudinal incision can be made at the nail groove for drainage. When the infection has spread to the subcutaneous area around the nail base, a longitudinal incision can be made in the nail grooves on both sides, the epithelial sheet on the nail root can be turned up, the root of the nail can be removed, and a small piece of vaseline gauze or latex sheet can be placed for drainage. If pus has accumulated under the nail bed, the nail should be removed or the nail above the abscess cavity should be trimmed. When removing nails, be careful to avoid damaging the nail bed to prevent deformities of the new nails in the future.