If ingrown toenails are hereditary in your family--like mine--it is unlikely simply cutting the toe nail straight across will help.  Even the smallest ingrown can hurt enough to keep you from sleeping well.  A long, hot foot bath might be the solution! A foot bath serves more purposes than just a tactical approach to an ingrown toenail.  Foot baths help relax the body, increase circulation, and draw toxins. 

If you suffer from ingrown toe nails, consider investing in a $30 or so foot bath and good nail "pliers."  You can also just use a basin and keep adding hot water.  Soak your feet in hot water, (as hot as you can stand it without burning yourself) and even add some tea tree and geranium essential oils to help soften the skin further. Tea tree oil also reduces the risk of infection if you are really bent on "going in for surgery" while on your own couch.  Geranium essential oil is excellent to help numb (in my personal opinion.) I use it as a topical anesthetic.  Add at least a cup of Epsom salt to really soften the skin and nails, as well as help draw toxins from my body.  Salt also reduces infection risk.  Getting the nails soft is key to success.  I am far too much a coward to do this without soft nails.

The longer you soak--the softer your nail.  I give it a solid 30 minutes, if not longer, and watch a program to stay busy.  Or, I work on my laptop as I am right now!  After you’ve given your feet a good soak, see if you can pull the embedded nail up on the corner, lifting it away from the skin. I pull the skin near the nail away to see how bad it is first.  Then I take a depth breath and start my work.  What you want to do with your nail is your own business!  I can say, don't slip--hitting your soft tissue could cause enormous pain.  A shot of whiskey close by, (to drink mid procedure) is totally optional.  When I do this, I must take breaks.  I take at least three breaks on each big toe.  I aim mainly to break the sides down and pull out the "knife" looking parts. How small the offending sucker actually is, can be funny. But I make sure I do not leave a small piece in there.    It is usually on my third, last attempt, I find the "big Kahuna." You will know when you "hit gold." It will appear to hurt the most to extract, but offer "praise the Heavens can hear" if you get it out.  If I feel no sharp pain when the toenail is pressed, I know it was a success.  I have to do mine about every two months.

Seeing a Doctor, Podiatrist for Ingrown Toe Nails: Surgery

Modern Medicine no longer requires the total removal of the nail, they have a way to just cut the very edges and cauterize them.  Since I have chronic ingrown big toes, I did visit a Podiatrist.  However, after a lot of study, I read the patients "never" forget the needle going in to do the procedure.  To each foot!  I was hoping they could knock me out.  Since it is not deemed serious enough for general anesthesia, I will hang on to my $800+ and try to deal with my monthly bouts.  If I ever do have this procedure done, I will corner the Doctor about how much of the nail.  They kept avoiding this question when I did go.  So, get a Doctor by word of mouth if you do decide to have the modern procedure done.  They should be able to do it without losing much of your nail.