Surgical Treatment of In-Growing Toenails Performed by Senior House Officers: Are They Good Enough?

Abstract

Background: Although the surgical treatment of in-growing toenails is a common procedure, the success of ingrown toenail surgery is extremely variable and recurrences frequently impair the quality of life of those who have this condition. In most hospitals this procedure is commonly performed by junior surgical trainees who may have little experience. Aim: We proposed to find out if the success of this procedure is operator-dependent by comparing the results of standard of toenail surgery performed by basic surgical trainees (BSTs) in our hospitals with already published data. Methods: A retrospective analysis of nail bed ablation surgery performed by BSTs under local anaesthesia over a 15-month period in a district general hospital was conducted. Results: 106 phenol ablations and 46 germinal matrix excisions were performed. Symptomatic recurrence rates 1 2 months following the procedure were 5.7% for phenol ablation and 4.3% for germinal matrix excisions. Conclusion: Our results are comparable to published data, and we conclude that toenail ablation surgery can be just as successfully performed by junior surgeons after relatively little training in the procedure.