Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37674170›Full record

SynthesisJournal of foot and ankle research2023

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials of surgical treatments for ingrown toenails part II: healing time, post-operative complications, pain, and participant satisfaction.

Victoria Exley, Katherine Jones, Grace O'Carroll, Judith Watson, Michael Backhouse

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of foot and ankle research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07707726 (The Effect of Virtual Reality Headset Use on Pain and Anxiety in Patients Undergoing Ingrown Toenail Surgery), which is not on this map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
1.9field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT07707726 nanot yet recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2026, after this paper: background citation

The Effect of Virtual Reality Headset Use on Pain and Anxiety in Patients Undergoing Ingrown Toenail Surgery

TypeinterventionalSponsorAnkara City Hospital BilkentRan2026 to 2026Enrolled66ConditionsIngrown Toenail, Virtual RealityArmsVirtual Reality (VR)
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. [Ingrown toenail: when and how to treat?]Dermatologie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Victoria Exley *York Trials Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK.
Katherine Jones *Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK.
Grace O'CarrollYork Trials Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK.
Judith WatsonYork Trials Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK.
Michael BackhouseWarwick Clinical Trials Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK. Michael.backhouse@warwick.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0056-8467
University of York · GBUniversity of Warwick · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWhen performing nail surgery, clinicians must choose from a multitude of procedures and variations within each procedure. Much has been published to guide this decision making, but there are a lack of up to date robust systematic reviews to assess the totality of this evidence.

methodsFive databases (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science and CENTRAL) and two registers (Clinicaltrials.gov and ISRCTN) were searched to January 2022 for randomised trials evaluating the effects of a surgical intervention(s) for ingrown toenails. Two independent reviewers screened records, extracted data, assessed risk of bias and certainty of evidence. Data on co-primary outcomes of symptom relief and symptomatic regrowth were presented in our first paper. This paper presents data for the secondary outcomes and further discussion.

resultsOf 3,928 records identified, 36 randomised trials were included in the systematic review. Healing time appears to be reduced with shorter application of phenol. A reduced healing time was also apparent was with the addition of curettage, although this may also increase the risk of post-operative bleeding and pain. Post operative bleeding was also reportedly lower in people who received local anaesthetic with epinephrine but no tourniquet. Use of phenol with nail bed excision may decrease the risk of infection. Lower pain scores were reported when using partial matrixectomy and surgical interventions with phenol. Shorter duration of pain was reported with phenolisation and wedge resection. Participant satisfaction was high overall.

conclusionThis second paper reports secondary outcomes from a robust systematic review of randomised trials on surgical treatment of ingrown toenails. Despite the large volume of clinical trials conducted on the topic, few clinical conclusions can be drawn due to the poor quality of these studies. Further high-quality clinical trials are needed to answer fundamental questions in the surgical treatment of ingrown toenails.

Indexed as

NailsNails, IngrownHumansPainPersonal SatisfactionPhenolPhenolsPostoperative ComplicationsRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicPhenolPhenolsIngrown nailsMalformedNailNail avulsionNail surgeryOnychocryptosisReviewSystematic

Identifiers

PMID37674170
PMCPMC10481456
OpenAlexW4386480673

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.