Background: A common problem associated with toenail removal surgery is the accompanying bacterial infection that often ensues. The foot has a particularly difficult anatomy to prepare antiseptically for surgery, which contributes to this wide-spread problem.
Objective: To compare the antiseptic efficacy of two skin pretreatment methods before toenail avulsion surgery.
Methods: Two presurgical methods were performed on 24 patients each (48 patients total). Swab samples were taken from each patient at five distinct stages (pretreatment, post-treatment, after surgery, after saline solution irrigation of the nail bed, and after phenol application) throughout the surgical procedure, and bacterial culture analysis was performed (total inocula count and identification of specific microorganisms).
Results: We found both methods to be effective at reducing the initial bacterial load when used at pretreatment, but the reduction in bacterial load was lost after the nail avulsion surgery, achieving values similar to the initial bacterial load before the presurgical scrub, from 5.17 and 5.04 log(10) colony-forming units (CFU)/cm(2) to 4.86 and 5.07 log(10) CFU/cm(2), respectively. An interoperative irrigation step was effective in reducing the bacterial load by 95.2% and 95.3%, respectively.
Study limitations: Our patients underwent phenol-based nail avulsion, resulting in no bacterial load after complete nail removal because of the intrinsic antiseptic nature of the phenol.
Conclusions: Incorporation of intraoperative irrigation of sterile saline solution after nail avulsion surgery reduces potential bacterial load. Every effort should be made to lower the risk of contamination after nail plate avulsion.