Awareness of podological treatment methods in cases of ingrown toenails in Turkey and determination of the preferences and tendencies of adults between the ages of 18-60 about treatment methods

This study was conducted among 1144 participants (mean age: 40.6 ± 10.97 years, M/F=502/642) who participated in Turkish language and online platforms to determine the preferences and tendencies of adults aged 18-60 years living in Turkey regarding ingrown toenail treatment. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS version 29 (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 29.0.1.0). As a result of our study; the proportion of adults in Turkey who knew podology applications and had previously undergone a procedure in a podology centre was determined as 16.20% (n=186) among the general participants. Among the participants with ingrown toenails, the proportion of those who have had a podology procedure constitutes 7.018% (n= 80) of the general participation. The low percentage of application to podology for ingrown nail treatment among the general participants indicates that the awareness of podology in the society is insufficient. In our study, the recurrence rates of non-invasive orthonyxia techniques and invasive treatments were also compared and a significant difference was found in the direction of lower recurrence rate in orthonyxia techniques (p<0.05). In our study, all variables and ingrown toenail cases were examined in a causal relationship and statistically significant results were obtained in accordance with the literature, especially with diabetes, shoe preferences and genetic factors (p<0.05). As a result, low recurrence rates are obtained in stage 1 and stage 2 with orthonyxia techniques, which is the podological treatment method of ingrown toenail. By increasing the awareness of podology in the society and making treatment with orthonyxia techniques widespread, ingrown toenail cases will be treated in the early stages without progression and foot health and quality of life in the society will be increased. Key Words: Podology, podiatry, ingrown toenails, onychocryptosis, orthonyxia techniques, ingrown toenails treatments.