Are antibiotics necessary in the treatment of locally infected ingrown toenails?
Author(s): Reyzelman AM, Trombello KA, Vayser DJ, Armstrong DG, Harkless LB Affiliation(s): Ankle and Foot Clinic, 1114 Broadway St, Longview, WA 98665, USA. Publication date & source: 2000-09, Arch Fam Med., 9(9):930-2. Publication type: Clinical Trial; Randomized Controlled Trial CONTEXT: A wide variety of generalists and specialists treat locally infected ingrown toenails, with perhaps the most common treatment regimen including resection of the nail border coupled with oral antibiotics. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether oral antibiotic therapy is beneficial as an adjunct to the phenol chemical matrixectomy in the treatment of infected ingrown toenails. DESIGN: We prospectively enrolled healthy patients with infected ingrown toenails. Each patient was randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups that received either 1 week of antibiotics and a chemical matrixectomy simultaneously (group 1), antibiotics for 1 week and then a matrixectomy (group 2), or a matrixectomy alone (group 3). SETTING: Ins
