Ingrown toenails and climbing shoes (sorry for the gross factor)

Hiya folks- a question for all y’all heavy duty climbers/backpackers. To make a long story short- was in the north cascades with lots of river crossings, and got a bad case of double ingrown toenails. Almost evac’d, and was put on several courses of antibiotics. Yuck! Apparently Asolos and wide feet don’t play nice. This was a little over a year ago. Anyway- ever since then my big toes always feel like absolute garbage and act like they’re going to go all haywire again after any significant climbing days. Any suggestions? Padding? Tape? Wide foot friendly climbing shoes? Heeeeeelp!

Thanks. 

I feel your pain. Actually, I mostly feel my own pain, but your pain has prompted the re-experiencing of my pain. I got great advice from an ACTUAL DOCTOR (whose name I don't remember) on dealing with ingrown toenails. Like hair, the short part of toenails grows faster. So if you cut the corners short, as is logical, they just grow right back into the sides of your godd*mn toe. Instead, cut them perfectly straight across. This seems like witchcraft but was an absolute game-changer for me. 

get them removed.

PWZ wrote:

get them removed.

Huh. Had a climbing buddy do the same thing- looked pretty gnarly, but I’m fine with that. My main concern- will that area now be super tender/prone to other weird stuff?

Nope. Occasionally get a little growth that needs to be trimmed in the corners, but after the first couple of days a pretty pain free permanent solution

I had surgery. Just removed the side that was a problem. It did grow back though but has not been an issue recently.  If you let it get big and then lance it you get a cool squirt of puss and then it usually heals up pretty quick. 

I had part of mine removed 25 years ago. I’ve had one minor ingrown since then and it was my own fault for trimming it wrong.

As someone said above, cut them straight across. 

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

I had surgery. Just removed the side that was a problem.

Agree with this advice. Had 2/3 incidents with an ingrown toe, took it to the doctor and they just removed the edge of the problem nails. Still have a regular looking toenail that doesn't bite anymore, which might be preferable to going 'bald'.

I got a medieval-torture-looking device from Amazon that applied a weird little spring on top to pull the sides of the nail up and out. did it for a few weeks and right as rain, it's digging in a bit more lately so I'll do it again soon. I know this sounds like snake oil bullshit but it's not — under twenty bucks and a solution to the problem that ended up lasting easily an entire season. I got this one but it's out of stock, but there are tons like it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZP82478/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

beware the reviews, not because they're dishonest but because some people have some UNBELIEVABLY fucked up V-shaped toenails 

Same as Pat above. Have similar devices and they really work when used

Go see a Podiatrist to get a partial ingrown toenail removal and phenol ablation to prevent the ingrown toenail from returning.

I wear Tenaya Mundakas and find them to be the  best fit I’ve found for wide feet.