ScreenHunter_275 Oct. 21 09.03

The somewhat euphemistically named process of “denailing” has remained a popular torture method since medieval times and, according to the sort of creepily detailed Wikipedia page for the method, it remains in use today.

There are a few good reasons for that. It apparently leaves no permanent marks or injury – after the nail grows back, of course – and requires only the most basic of tools to pull off. It also objectively hurts like hell and there’s something about the tips of the toes and fingers being manipulated that leaves a person feeling unbearably vulnerable.

All of which has us wondering why anyone would voluntarily use this tool, which is clearly just a re-purposed torture device, to fix their ingrown toenails, regardless of how amazingly well it supposedly works.

ScreenHunter_274 Oct. 21 09.03

For reasons that we can’t quite fathom, the promotional video for the “Maki-zume Robo” device, from retailer Fine Hearts, has amassed an inexplicable five million-plus views, meaning there are either a lot of masochists in Japan, or many Japanese people suffer from embarrassing and painful ingrown toenails.

As “luck” would have it, I actually suffered a lot from chronic ingrown toenails in my teens, and I can tell you that surgery to permanently fix the problem is painful, bloody, and conducted largely without anesthesia, so anything that purports to fix the issue “painlessly” probably sounds like a very appealing option for those grappling with ingrown nails.

That doesn’t change the fact that the Maki-zume Robo, however miraculously it may or may not alleviate symptoms, looks like something out of William Wallace’s worst nightmares. Apparently, you first secure the device’s two hook-like arms underneath the nail, then secure the contraption in place and manipulate a screw that raises the arms and pulls the sides of the ingrown nail out and away. Users then are encouraged to soak their foot in warm water for 20 minutes, then blow-dry the nail so that it hardens in its new shape. Probably, this must be repeated from time to time as the nail grows out and gradually curls in again.

ScreenHunter_276 Oct. 21 09.04

Despite Fine Hearts’ claims that the procedure is “painless,” you can clearly see blood in the above video as the patient’s nail is pried upward, so, if not pain, the device must at least produce a fair amount of discomfort. Still, the YouTube promotional video’s five million views seems to suggest there’s at least a lot of interest in the product.

If you too are suffering from ingrown toenails, why not give it a shot? Just, uh, make sure to have a couple swigs of Jack Daniels (“Hillbilly Anesthetic“) beforehand, just in case the procedure ends up as painful as it looks.

ScreenHunter_277 Oct. 21 09.04

Source: Temita
Images: YouTube/Fine Hearts