I’ve done this and there’s no “blood loss” problem of any significance to worry about. And yeah, you should attempt to sterilize things you use on your toes before using them for “self-surgery” - But I mean... Duh. As far as effectiveness, I’ve had times where it helped because it went from a super-painful and irritated papillae to basically a small cut or abrasion on my tongue. A tiny cut heals much faster than the time it takes for an inflamed papillae to go away. However, if it’s not adequately swollen and sticking out, it’s possible to basically just cut the taste bud in half instead of cutting it OFF. If this happens, it will continue to hurt but even worse bc you still have the inflamed taste bud but now it’s ALSO physically injured. Bottom line? You can try it and don’t worry about some of the above comments that mention ridiculous things like “bleeding out” or getting toe bacteria “in your bloodstream.” Just clean the clippers well (preferably, clean it throughly with rubbing alcohol, and allow the alcohol to completely dry), nip the inflamed papillae off if you can, and enjoy faster healing. Worst case REALISTIC scenario is not getting the whole thing like I mentioned above, and making the pain a little worse until it heals.