I had one because I cut my nail to low and left a point where I'd cut it which slowly grew into my skin. It was like that for about 2 months getting worse and worse, eventually the only way I got rid of it was to once a day soak my foot in warm water and Detol. That stops any infections, and also it softens the nail meaning you can get something under there to lift the nail away from the cuts, eventually doing this frees the nail. Hurts the first few times but it did work and I've never had the problem again. Careful about what you use to lift it though. You can get this plastic thing designed for it which has no sharp edges, might be worth going to Boots and having a look around. Mike.