Hi Dr. Ben,

I was recently chatting live with Jatone and she suggested that you might be able to answer a quick question for me.

My son has an infection from an ingrown toenail and when a medical doctor saw him recently, he prescribed Keflex for 10 days.

Is there anything natural that I can give my son?  (I would prefer he not take antibiotics.)

Thanks,
Georgette

Hi Georgette,

If the infection has caused fever, the toe feels quite hot and very painful to touch with red streaks moving up the foot, antibiotics are needed.

Before I get into the recovery from antibiotics, let’s assume he does not have any of those symptoms of fever, very painful to touch, hot or red streaks.

In that case:

-        Get a basin to soak his foot and fill with comfortably hot water. Fill to the point that his foot is completely covered.

-        Add 2 cups of Epsom salt to it and stir well. I recommend adding the Epsom salts to very hot water and mixing until they are dissolved before putting them into the basin.

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