A dermatologist yesterday advised people to avoid clipping their nails too short after the practice caused a fifth-grade elementary student to suffer from a painful condition called paronychia, an infection of the soft tissue surrounding the nail.
According to Shu-Tien Clinic dermatologist Hsu Chia-chi (徐嘉琪), the boy had experienced on-and-off pain in both of his big toes for nearly six months and the condition was aggravated if he ran or jumped.
“The condition made walking a misery for the child. We had attempted to remove part of the nails from the boy’s toes to assuage his discomfort, but the left toe became severely inflamed, with granulation tissue forming a month later, leading us to believe he had developed paronychia,” Hsu said.
Hsu said paronychia can afflict people at any age and that it is characterized by soft tissue inflammation around a nail that can trigger swelling and pain.
The boy was put on antibiotics and underwent an electrocautery procedure, and then wore nail correction patches for two months, Hsu said.
“He also followed our advice that he alter the way he cut his nails and wear shoes with wide fronts, and has recovered well,” she added.
Hsu said most patients with paronychia tended to trim their nails short and round, and to clean the dirt from underneath, which she said can cause the nail to grow inward and enter the skin, which increases the risk of paronychia.
It is advised that people leave at least a 1mm gap around the edge of the nail and shape it square rather than round or triangular, Hsu said, adding that the best time to cut nails is after a shower because the warm water softens them and makes them easier to trim.
China appears to have built mockups of a port in northeastern Taiwan and a military vessel docked there, with the aim of using them as targets to test its ballistic missiles, a retired naval officer said yesterday. Lu Li-shih (呂禮詩), a former lieutenant commander in Taiwan’s navy, wrote on Facebook that satellite images appeared to show simulated targets in a desert in China’s Xinjiang region that resemble the Suao naval base in Yilan County and a Kidd-class destroyer that usually docks there. Lu said he compared the mockup port to US naval bases in Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan, and in Subic Bay
Police are investigating the death of a Formosan black bear discovered on Tuesday buried near an industrial road in Nantou County, with initial evidence indicating that it was shot accidentally by a hunter. The bear had been caught in wildlife traps at least five times before, three times since 2020. Codenamed No. 711, the bear received extensive media coverage last year after it was discovered trapped twice in less than two months in the Taichung mountains. After its most recent ensnarement last month, the bear was released in the Dandashan (丹大山) area in Nantou County’s Sinyi Township (信義). However, officials became concerned after the
The majority of parents surveyed in northern Taiwan favor the suspension of all on-site classes at schools from the junior-high level and below amid a surge in domestic COVID-19 infections, parent groups said yesterday. About 84.4 percent of respondents in a survey of 2,912 parents in northern Taiwan, where the outbreak is the most serious, said they supported suspending classes, the Action Alliance on Basic Education, the Taiwan Parents Protect Women and Children Association, and the Taiwan Love Children Association said. The groups distributed questionnaires to parents in New Taipei City, Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu city and county from Saturday morning
DETERRENCE: US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said cross-strait affairs are on the agenda at the US-ASEAN Special Leaders’ Summit The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked the Czech Senate for passing a resolution supporting Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO and other international organizations for the second consecutive year. The resolution was passed on Wednesday with 51 votes in favor, one opposed and 11 abstentions. In addition to the WHO, it also called for Taiwan’s participation in the “meetings, mechanisms and activities” of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Civil Aviation Organization and Interpol. In its opening, the resolution states that the Czech Republic “considers Taiwan as one of its key partners in the Indo-Pacific region,” while noting its