When your toenails grow and cut into your skin, the fold can get infected. It may even begin to grow over the nail, at which point you'll have to go to the doctor. But when you notice that your toenail is starting to grow into your skin, all you need to prevent an infection is run-of-the-mill dental floss.

Take the floss and gently nudge it under the nail plate that's growing into your skin. The floss helps detach the nail from the skin so the skin can heal. But, Bailey says, you have to do this daily in order to decrease the swelling. You can also soak your feet in warm salt water for 10 minutes a day, and apply Neosporin to help reduce inflammation, says Kelly L. Geoghan, DPM, podiatrist at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.

To prevent an ingrown toenail from happening in the first place, always cut your nails straight across, and avoid wearing pointy-toed shoes.

If you've gone from one trendy polish color to the next without giving your nails a break, after a while you might notice they've taken on a yellow hue, says Bailey. What's more, all that nail polish remover has likely dried out your nails.

The treatment is � Bag Balm again. First, lay off the polish. Then, for a quick fix, you can buff the surface of your nails to remove the surface discoloration. (Bailey warns that too much buffing will thin your nails, so don't go crazy with the buffer.)

While paronychia sounds like a rare disease you pick up while bushwacking through a jungle, this infection is actually pretty common. When you cut your cuticles or the skin around your nails, water can seep in and create the ideal climate for microorganisms to thrive. An infection eventually causes the skin to swell and puss.

Bailey suggests using an over-the-counter Lotrimin solution, an anti-fungal medicine (it's usually sold as a cream, but Bailey says to get the liquid version in a dropper bottle). Just drip the solution into your nail fold and open skin. And always apply rubbing alcohol after your hands touch water. If it swells and becomes tender then you should see a doctor -- especially if there's pus.

Bacterial infections tend to infect the skin around your nails, kind of like paronychia. "It becomes red, swollen, and very painful. Sometimes there's pus or drainage that comes out of it," says Jacqueline Sutera, DPM, a New York City-based podiatrist. If the infection gets really bad, it can spread to the skin underneath the nail, "causing the nail plate to separate from the nail bed." (Gross, we know.)

Before you freak out, there is something you can do to prevent your nail from falling off. Cut the nail to relieve any pressure, and soak the infected nail in warm water mixed with Epson salt like Dr. Teals Epsom Salt Soaking Solution, $5.99. Submerge it for 20 minutes, twice a day, for three days. "The salt draws the infection closer to the surface and hopefully will bring it out of the skin," says Sutera. "It also helps reduce inflammation, swelling, and pain." Then, apply an antibiotic ointment like Neosporin and cover it up with a Band-Aid. If the swelling isn't reduced after three days, it's time to go to the doctor.

You probably don't think of a yeast infection as a nail problem, but it's a common issue. It's basically Athlete's Foot on your nail instead of your skin, and you can get it whenever you come into contact with fungus. "We live in a world filled with bacteria and fungal organisms, so an injury on a nail is open to infection," says Bailey. And, unfortunately, she says a fungal infection is harder to treat than a bacterial one.

If your nail is infected, you'll start to see yellow or green discoloration, and the nail will become thick, says Sutera. Then, it'll start to become flaky and develop a crumbly appearance; creating thick debris under the nail that looks almost like Parmesan cheese you can scrape out (again, so gross, we know).

Before your nail starts flaking away, try over-the-counter remedies like Fungi Cure, tea tree oil, or Lotrimin -- the same OTC treatment Bailey recommends for paronychia. Drip it under your nail morning and night to help kill the fungus. "The problem, however, gets worse when water gets stuck under the nail, enabling the organisms to flourish and grow again," says Bailey. So after water contact, Bailey recommends patting the nails dry, and applying rubbing alcohol to the nail as an antimicrobial. But if the nasty Parmesan action starts happening, you'll want to go to the podiatrist.