When you search for how to prevent ingrown toenail online, you may find out that many websites recommend to “trim your nail straight across” to prevent ingrown toenails. However, they don’t usually mention WHY. Today, we will explain why trimming your nail correctly will help prevent you from getting ingrown toenails.

A 2014 research from Physical Biology (http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1478-3975/11/6/066004) found that physics plays a role in, and as a result, can partly explain the cause of ingrown toenails. They developed equations that explain the physics of nail growth and found that when the growth stress and adhesion stress do not compensate each other, the nail will start shaping abnormally. Depending on the distribution of stress, the curvature of the nail can change.

However, the relationship between the growth and adhesion stress and the shape of the nail can be seen only when the side of the nail is cut. In other words, when the nail is trimmed straight across, the relationship is removed and therefore the ingrown nail condition will be improved.

Also, when the edge of the nail is trimmed badly (i.e. making curves on the edge of the nail), it can amplify the stresses on the nail, which could worsen the ingrown toenails. Therefore, it is important to trim your nail correctly, by cutting your nail in a straight way.