acute infection of the fold of skin around a nail
Paronychia Paronychia is a nail disease that is an often-tender bacterial or fungal infection of the hand or foot where the nail and skin meet at the side or the base of a finger or toenail. The infection can start suddenly (acute paronychia) or gradually (chronic paronychia).[1][2] Paronychia is commonly misapplied as a synonym for whitlow or felon. The term is from Greek: παρωνυχία from para, "around" and onukh-, "nail".