Lessened manual dexterity also impairs toenail cutting and in managing to fasten suitable footwear, as does decreased flexibility in the back, hips and knees.
The old-fashioned image of the chiropodist as a trimmer of toenails and a parer of corns has been confined to the dustbin of history.
Someone who is waiting for a coronary bypass graft is treated the same as someone with an ingrowing toenail.
Nearly seven out of 10 over-85-year-olds cannot cut their own toenails, and rely on chiropody services.
If there is no toenail-clipping service enabling an elderly person to go to the local newsagent, that person is being marginalised.
Such people include a woman in her 80s who is blind, and who suffers badly from in-growing toenails.
That can be refreshing because disciplines, like toenails, are capable of ingrowing.
An ingrowing toenail should not be sufficient to prevent a person from getting his social services records.
