In a daily clinic, we often encounter the ingrown nail deformities. To correct these deformities, various surgical procedures were reported. However, these procedures often caused the postoperative severe pain. To mitigate the postoperative pain, we performed vaporization of the nail matrix using CO2 laser. Twenty-five patients with ingrown nail deformity of the great toe were treated with CO2 laser. They included 12 males and 13 females. Patient age ranged from 16 to58 years, and the postoperative follow-up period ranged from 10 to 24 months. After the digital nerve block and the partial nail plate avulsion, matrix, lateral nail groove including granulation was vaporized using CO2 laser. The surgical wounds were closed spontaneously within the 10days after the surgery In all cases, the recurrence of ingrown nail deformity and the postoperative infection was not observed during the follow-up period. Furthermore, the use of CO2 laser significantly reduced postoperative pain as compared with the case without CO2 laser, and all the patients could go to school or work on the next day after the surgery without any problem. In conclusion, the use of CO2 laser is a useful method for the treatment of ingrown nail deformity, because of the short operation time, high cure rate, and postoperative pain.
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