Grim footage captures podiatrist cutting away at woman’s toenails

Nailed it! Stomach-churning footage captures podiatrist cutting away at a woman’s thick, overgrown and infected toenails

• Dr Binh Nguyen said the unidentified patient hadn’t cut her nails in ‘over a year’
• Dr Nguyen, 33, from Florida, measured the longest nail, which came in at 4cm 
• At one point, he had to apologise to the woman over fears he was hurting her 

Stomach-churning footage has captured a foot doctor cutting away at a woman’s overgrown toenails.

Dr Binh Nguyen, a podiatrist in Tampa in Florida, revealed the unidentified patient hadn’t cut her nails in ‘over a year’.

Her nails were all thick and discoloured, with the one on her biggest digit having formed a ‘toe hat’ to cover her second toe.

Dr Nguyen, 33, measured the longest nail, which came in at 4cm. But reassured the woman that she had ‘came to the right place’.

Dr Binh Nguyen, a podiatrist in Tampa in Florida, revealed the unidentified patient hadn’t cut her nails in ‘over a year’

Dr Nguyen, 33, measured the longest nail, which came in at 4cm. But reassured the woman that she had ‘came to the right place’

Using his skill and experience, over the course of 20 minutes, Dr Binh chipped away at the huge, thick nails.

At one point Dr Binh even had to apologise to the woman over fears he was hurting her by clipping away at her nails. 

The end result was a much smaller and manageable nail for the patient. Dr Binh said her feet looked a ‘lot better’.

Dr Nguyen works at Healthy Feet Podiatry, a clinic that has 160,000 subscribers for its gory videos on YouTube. 

The channel’s most popular clip has amassed more than 14million views since it was published last year. 

Using his skill and experience, over the course of 20 minutes, Dr Binh chipped away at the huge, thick nails

The end result was a much smaller and manageable nail for the patient. Dr Binh said her feet looked a ‘lot better’

President of Healthy Feet Podiatry, Leo Krawetz, 52, said: ‘There is no way to “cure” fungus, only treat it.

‘The longer and thicker the nails, the longer it takes.

‘Some procedures are painless; others may hurt some due to the thickness of the nail and the pressure when cutting them.’ 

Dr Anton Alexandroff, consultant dermatologist and British Skin Foundation spokesperson, told MailOnline: ‘This video shows overgrown toenails. There also appears to be a fungal infection of the toenails. 

‘It is very important to trim toenails neatly and avoid overgrowing toenails. Overgrown toenails can traumatise skin and break skin barrier. 

‘Broken skin may serve as a port of entry for infection and cause a serious skin infection called cellulitis which may require a hospital admission and drip antibiotics.

‘Thick deformed toenails like in this video may indicate a toenail infection. It can be treated with a topical anti-fungal nail varnish although often it requires a prolonged treatment with an oral medication.’

HOW ARE FUNGAL NAIL INFECTIONS TREATED? 

Topical treatment 

Treatments applied to the nail don’t work as well as those taken by mouth.  They are most effective if the infection is treated at an early stage. 

The treatments used most often are amorolfine nail lacquer, ciclopirox and tioconazole nail solution. 

Alone, they may not be able to clear the deeper parts of an infected nail, though regular removal of abnormal nail material with clippers or filing can help with this. 

Used in combination with an antifungal remedy taken by mouth, they increase the chance of a cure. 

They may have to be used for a period of four to 12 months before a response is noted. The course of treatment is shorter for fingernail infections. 

The cure rate with topical agents alone, is low, approximately 15-30 per cent.

Oral treatment

Griseofulvin, which has been used for many years and is the only one of the three medicines licensed for use in children. Long courses of treatment are usually needed (six to nine months for fingernails, and up to 18 months for toenails). 

Even so, only about three quarters of infected fingernails and one third of infected toenails will clear up. Relapses are common.

Terbinafineand itraconazole have largely taken over from griseofulvin now. They work better and much more quickly, although only about 50 per cent of nail infections are cured. Terbinafine should be considered as first line treatment for dermatophyte fungi – the ones that cause athlete’s foot. It is taken daily for six weeks for fingernail infections and for 12-16 weeks for toenail infections.

Other treatments include laser treatments and photodynamic therapy which may be helpful but are less effective than the topical and systemic treatments listed above. These treatment options are not currently available on the NHS.

Herbal products are promoted for fungal nail infection, but there is no good evidence that they are safe or more effective than standard treatments.

Sometimes very thick nails that are not likely to respond to tablets alone may have to be removed by surgeons under a local anaesthetic, however this is rarely performed since cure rates are not high enough to justify the discomfort of the surgery. 

Source: British Skin Foundation

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