Talk:Paronychia

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I have been going through the list of orthopaedic conditions listed as stubs and suggesting this template for Orthopaedic Conditions (see Talk:Orthopedic surgery) Name Definition Synonyms Incidence Pathogenesis and predisposing factors Pathology Stages Classification Natural History/Untreated Prognosis Clinical Features Investigation Non-Operative Treatment Risks of Non-Operative Treatment Prognosis following Non-Operative Treatment Operative Treatment (Note that each operations should have its own wiki entry) Risks of Operative Treatment Prognosis Post Operation Complications Management Prevention History --Mylesclough 06:14, 8 October 2005 (UTC)

Paronychia vs. Whitlow vs. Felon
I'm really not sure why the main article is paronychia when it's a subclass of fingertip infections, and not the same as a felon or herpetic whitlow. Sure paronychia is most common, but the main article should be something like "Fingertip infection", with subsections for the different types. Ciotog 08:47, 29 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I find the article confusing. It starts out by saying that paronychia is "commonly misidentified as a synonym for felon or whitlow", but then the article soon plunges into talking about whitlows, and I was redirected here from "whitlow". Presumably we have either (a) paronychia is a particular type of whitlow, but there are other types of whitlow too; or (b) a whitlow is a particular type of paronychia, but not all paronychia gives rise to a whitlow; or (c) paronychia and whitlows are different, possibly with some overlap.


 * In case (a) the article should be renamed whitlow, and the specific type paronychia explained (or given its own article if it truly merits it). In case (b) the article should explain what sort of paronychia gives rise to whitlows, and what whitlows are, before it goes on to talk about them extensively. In case (c) we should probably have separate articles for whitlows and paronychia, referencing each other as appropriate.


 * Can someone please supply the necessary clarification? Mooncow (talk) 18:25, 23 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't know anything about it, but it was unacceptable that whitlow redirected here, and the intro here characterized that as a misnomer. I changed Whitlow from a redirect to a new stub, that references this article and Herpetic whitlow. I'll leave it up to editors more qualified in the field to expand the stub, or merge it more appropriately.--Srleffler (talk) 03:06, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

there three different diseases

a paronychia is an infection of the nail

a whitlow is an infection of the soft tissue near the nail

a felon is an infection of the pulp of the finger or toe (the otherside of the nail)

the reason its wrong is they have three different treatments

paronychia use oral medications only as there is no abecess

whitlow treat cause, often oral medications but may drain

felon has to incised and drained as it may cause a Compartment syndrome like reaction due to the inflammation, not draining a felon could be cause for a malpractice suit if the clinician doesn't drain the felon and the patient later needs amputation of the finger — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.134.196.56 (talk) 22:44, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

More specific
I have a paronychia but no medical insurance. Does it go away on its own? Do I go to the doctor or is there an OTC antibiotic I can use? More details that answer my question would be helpful in the main article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.237.84.11 (talk) 21:32, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

Possible copyright infringement?
Large chunks of this article appear to be identical to this BBC Health page Feorag 16:41, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Looks pretty clear to me. According to this page the BBC is only concerned about large-scale copying for profit, but even still the article should be edited. Ciotog 03:20, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

This article needs to cite that it's lifted most, if not, all of this article from the BBC page — Wiki edit Jonny (talk) 17:17, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

It would be helpful if people took complaints of copyright infringement more seriously. Maybe no-one has this on their watchlist any more.

That said, I have just put the BBC quotations in block quotes and added footnote reference (some of the quotes had been copyedited, so I had to revert those changes). I am a little concerned that the article may rely too heavily on them, as our GFDL permits people to use our Wikipedia contributions for profit. So if anyone wants to rewrite them in their own words, that would be helpful. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 14:12, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

Treatment section deleted
I had to delete the section on treatment. The entire section was copied directly from WebMD, with a citation to the page that was plagiarized. This is neither acceptable, nor legal. You have to paraphrase what the sources say, not merely copy them word for word.--Srleffler (talk) 03:18, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Crocodile Oil
The bullet point in the treatment section on crocodile oil has no citations, and to my mind appears of dubious merit. Are there any objections to this point being deleted? R is the gas constant (talk) 14:59, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

Should there be something about how it can be caused by nail-biting?
I've suffered from this in bouts, though I didn't know its name was "Paronychia" -- heck, I didn't even know it had a name! In my case, it's been caused by my own nail-biting, every time. I'm a chronic nail-biter (any tips on how to shake that habit gratefully accepted!), and when I bite a nail down to -- and into -- the cuticle, a throbbingly painful infection with pus sometimes follows. (I usually lance it open myself, with a sewing needle sterilised in a flame or some such... That's not the problem; the problem is squeezing out as much as possible of the pus afterwards. Now that hurts!)

I can't imagine this is a particularly rare reason for the condition, so maybe this should be mentioned in the article? Unfortunately, I can't just go throw in a paragraph or three about my own experience, as that would be "original research"! :-) So if anyone has any reliably-sourced text on this, I think that'd be a very useful addition to the article. -- CRConrad (talk) 20:56, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

if there is active pus (remember pus is almost never clear unless its a viral infection), then it is no longer just a paronychial infection, there is an abscess and that should be drained it can be done in your local clinic, as for getting over the nail biting, sometimes vinegar or any other taste you don't like put on the fingertips is helpful, but won't work without determination on your part, also dont put anything that is not prescribed by your primary care physician on your fingertips while you have an active infection — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.134.196.56 (talk) 23:01, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Oral vs. topical: a contradiction in the article
The article says "Paronychia is often treated with antibiotics, sometimes as a cream" -- but later it says, "Topical antibiotics or anti-bacterial ointments do not effectively treat paronychia."

'''Would someone with medical training please resolve this contradiction. '''

Here's my anecdotal experience with paronychia: putting antibiotic ointment on it did not prevent the nail from falling out. (Fortunately, it later grew back.) If oral is significantly more effective than topical, stating this in the article might prevent hundreds of Wikipedia readers from suffering nail loss. 207.224.123.93 (talk) 17:36, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

topical is treatment is not used as it cannot by pass the nail bed and the infection is usually under the nail, oral treatment is considered the standard of care — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.134.196.56 (talk) 22:53, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Proposed merge
Hello to all! I am proposing a merge from the following articles into this article:
 * Pyogenic paronychia
 * Candidal paronychia
 * Chronic paronychia
 * Acute paronychia

This is for the following reasons:
 * The main article would benefit significantly from having all this information in one place.
 * These articles are very short in length (1-2 sentences) and have not been edited significantly in 3-4 years.
 * This knowledge shouldn't be obscured from readers of this article by virtue of being isolated in an obscure article of 1-2 lines.
 * These topics may receive more attention by being mentioned in the main article.
 * The articles, if needs be, could be re-expanded at a later date.

Kind Regards, LT90001 (talk) 07:02, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Support Doc James  (talk · contribs · email) (if I write on your page reply on mine) 15:23, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

I have completed this merge. LT90001 (talk) 23:26, 10 September 2013 (UTC)

pictures of different kinds of paronychias
It would be helpful to have a set of pictures of different kinds of paronychias. One example can be seen at dermnetnz.org/fungal/paronychia.html -71.174.175.150 (talk) 23:15, 31 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes if you find some under an open license or take some yourself we can add them. Doc James  (talk · contribs · email) 05:36, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Onychomycosis vs. Paronychia
Onychomycosis is infection of the nail. Paronychia is infection around the nail. The lede of each article should make readers aware of the other, closely related article. (I have tried to cross-link the articles. My work was reverted. Now the matter is in your hands.) -71.174.175.150 (talk) 15:05, 2 January 2015 (UTC)
 * It is already listed here "Diseases of the skin and appendages by morphology" at the bottom.  Doc James  (talk · contribs · email) 20:57, 2 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Completely uselessly obscure and inadequate to help the average browsing reader to be aware of this very relevant potential confusion, between two very similar conditions.-71.174.175.150 (talk) 14:44, 3 January 2015 (UTC)

from a practicing dermatologist (me):

onychomycosis is a fungal infection of the nail plate caused by dermatophytes (a particular class of fungi that infect the skin alone); this is VERY different from paronychia, which is bacterial infection of the periungual skin (the skin near the nail plate, usually on the lateral side). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.130.7.195 (talk) 20:14, 6 November 2015 (UTC)