Paronychia is a
finger or toe related disease which brings pain either chronic or recurrent in nature or developed rapidly
over the past few hours accompanied by redness and swelling of the nail fold. There are many types of Paronychia but mainly three types of Paronychia are found in human being.
The chronic Paronychia is mostly seen with the ingrown toenail with chronic inflammation, thickening and purulence of the eponychial fold. This occurs with individuals whose hands are frequently exposed to moisture and minor trauma.
The acute Paronychia involves fingers and is much painful. It is caused by the introduction of pyogenic bacteria. In this case pus is developed within the thin subcutaneous layer between skins of the eponychial fold.
The third type of Paronychia occurs between the nail plate and the nail bed.
Paronychia starts with minor pain in the finger but becomes acute within a span of two to three hours. At this stage, if hot water at the temperature of 80-90° C is poured on it, the pain can easily be brought under control. In case of children, low heated water may be applied according to their tolerance. The benefits of hot water are (i) it reduces pain all on a sudden and (ii) softens the skin so that pus from the affected area can easily be removed without much pain.
After removing pus from the
swollen portion it may be inserted into the lemon in such a way so that swollen portion of the finger can be fully covered by the lemon. The size of the average lemon is elliptical. Therefore if the lemon is holed from the protuberance (Apex of the lemon) side fitting to the size of the finger, it will remain fit to the finger for a long time. The juice of the lemon gradually absolves the swollen portion and checks further formation of pus inside the wound. Since, it takes 8-10 hours the most suitable time for its application is before going to bed at night.
After removal of lemon, the affected area looks whitish. Since the juice absolved the affected area, it becomes wet and thick. It should be kept open to air. There is no need to wash the area and apply ointment. After sometimes it will dry and come to normal stage. In case of acute Paronychia, the patient should immediately consult with the doctor without much delay.