Patent ID: 8337443

Claim:
An apparatus for correcting an ingrown nail by lifting a nail edge grown into a nail bed, which comprises: an upstanding push-down member having at a lower end thereof a push-down head; a laterally extending, lifting angle maintenance means which is secured, at a middle portion thereof, to said upstanding push-down member; and a pair of lifting members extending downwardly from respective portions of said lifting angle maintenance means, which portions are opposite relative to said middle portion of the lifting angle maintenance means at which said upstanding push-down member is secured, each lifting member having an anchor at a lower end thereof, wherein said anchor has an adhesive lower surface to be directly contacted with a top surface of a nail, wherein, when said apparatus is installed on the top surface of a nail, each of said lifting members extends downwardly from said lifting angle maintenance means in a direction inclined toward the longitudinal axis of the nail at an inclination angle of at least 10° relative to the vertical direction, as measured at the connection point between said lifting member and said anchor, wherein said vertical direction is defined as the thicknesswise direction of the finger having the nail, and wherein, in use of said apparatus: said apparatus is installed on the top surface of a nail in a manner such that the push-down head of said upstanding push-down member contacts a middle portion of the top surface of the nail, and that the adhesive lower surfaces of the anchors of the lifting members are, respectively, adhered to the top surface of the nail at side portions thereof which are opposite relative to said middle portion at which said push-down head of the upstanding push-down member contacts the top surface of the nail, as viewed from the tip of a finger having the nail, and when said lifting members are placed under tension, said anchors are lifted to thereby exert an ingrown nail-correcting, lifting force on each of said side portions of the top surface of the nail, while causing the upstanding push-down member to push said middle portion of the top surface of the nail in the thicknesswise direction of the nail; the apparatus having a lifting interval, wherein the lifting interval is 1 or more in terms of a ratio of the distance between said lifting members as measured at positions of contacts between the lifting members and said lifting angle maintenance means, relative to the width of the nail on which said apparatus is installed.