![]() Symptoms of paronychia will typically develop over hours to several days, sometimes even longer. “They will first become evident in the area where the skin meets the nail at the nailfold,” DeRosa says. It is usually tender and sometimes warm to the touch.” Paronychia manifests as swelling, tenderness, erythema (redness), and sometimes pus in the skin around the nail. “It can either be acute, in which case it is most often caused by staph bacteria, or chronic, in which case it is often caused by fungus. “Paronychia is a soft tissue infection that occurs around the nails on the fingers or toes,” says Marcus. “Trauma may result from physical injury caused by cutting cuticles, or it may be due to cracks and fissures in the skin that have occurred for other reasons such as dry skin or irritant dermatitis,” she says. “A good example would be someone skiing for multiple days wearing warm, wet ski gloves and developing paronychia as a result,” she says.īoard-certified dermatologist Rebecca Marcus, MD, adds that trauma to the protective barrier around the nail (the cuticle) can provide an entryway for microorganisms. Sometimes it’s also caused by cuticle damage due to picking or biting (the mouth is full of bacteria that can cause this infection), explains DeRosa. Paronychia is most commonly caused by bacteria, usually Staphylococcus aureus, as a result of continuous irritation of the skin, hands, and feet being constantly wet and warm. Now you’re probably asking, “paron-who?” “Paronychia is an infection of the tissue folds around the nail that is typically caused by irritation or trauma, like cuticle damage, a hangnail, or excess exposure to moisture (such as someone whose hands are constantly wet from dishwashing, for example),” explains board-certified facial plastic surgeon Jaimie DeRosa, MD. “The condition affects more than 200,000 people a year in the United States alone.” While it might seem like the worst thing that could happen to your mani, paronychia may have it beat. Breaking a nail is undoubtedly annoying-and often quite painful.
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