Identify the free border of the nail and the attachment at the hyponychium.
Determine the nail’s direction of growth. Is the nail growing straight or does it curve to one side?
Look at the thickness of the nail. Is it normal or is it building up in layers? In some situations you may need to reduce the bulk of the nail by using a diamond deb foot file, or a podiatry bur (specifically barrel or small cylinder bur).
In other cases you may need to clear some debris from around the nail. Instruments of choice for this job is a probe (either flathead or swan neck spoonhead probes) or a Black’s file. This allows you to confirm where the nail is attached and where the corners are.
