Simple and Aesthetic Treatment for Pincer Nail

Abstract

A pincer nail is a deformity characterized by transverse overcurvature of the distal half of the nail plate, commonly of the great toe. Since the first report by Cornelius et al. in 1968 1) , several studies have reported the pathology and treatment of pincer nails. In previous studies, two problems have not been solved. The first problem was the formation of dead space on each side of the distal phalanx during operation. Some methods to fill the dead space have been reported 2-5) ; however, all of them involve complex maneuvers. The second problem was the unnatural form of the nail bed after surgery 6). Here, we report a simple and effective procedure to treat the pathology of pincer nail deformity, which overcomes the above-mentioned problems. Materials and methods Patients The study population comprised 25 patients who underwent surgery to treat a total of 30 pincer nails on their great toes. The surgery was performed by a single surgeon between April 2013 and March 2017. Among the 25 patients, five were males and 20 were females, and the mean age was 67.4 years. Assessment methods Still images and lateral radiographs of the affected toe were taken preoperatively (Fig. 1a, b, c) to confirm the indication for surgery, which was the presence of an osteophyte in the distal phalanx. The axial images of the great toe, taken before and after surgery, were analyzed using ImageJ, developed by