Re: hangnail or agnail
Here's a great cure for paronychia. I had a paronychion that stubbornly resisted eight weeks of antibiotic treatment, and eventually we decided to remove the fingernail surgically. The surgeon interviewed me for five minutes before agreeing to do the surgery, and throughout the interview he kept gently but firmly squeezing the end of my finger. That massage opened up the site of infection to the point that it drained and healed, and the surgery proved unnecessary.