Treatment of nail fungus lasts at least six months and is subject to correctly prescribed therapy. Many people, especially on the eve of summer, are worried about the question: how quickly will the nails return to their former healthy appearance? What will they look like immediately after starting treatment? And in one or two months?
Additionally, whether the treatment is effective or not can also be determined by the appearance of the nails. Let's see what you should pay attention to in the appearance of your nails after fungal treatment.
Why is nail fungus difficult to treat?
Onychomycosis (fungal infection of the nail plate) is very difficult to treat in everyone. There are three reasons for this:
The microbe enters the nail bed and not all local medications can reach it. In addition, most fungi provide themselves with "protection" in the form of a thickening of the nail plate.
In most cases, onychomycosis is accompanied by a fungal infection of the foot. And as soon as a person heals his nails, the fungus re-enters the nail bed from the skin of the foot.
Reinfection also occurs through one's own socks, shoes and also when bathing in a bathtub/shower.
Classic types of treatment for onychomycosis.
Medicine currently uses three main approaches to treating nail fungus:
Systemic medications in the form of tablets or capsules. They can help, but this requires prolonged treatment, from 4 to 18 months. All these drugs are toxic to the liver, their reception can be complicated by the development of diarrhea, skin rashes and changes in taste. Therefore, during treatment it is necessary to strictly follow a therapeutic diet, stop drinking alcohol and periodically take blood tests, "liver tests. "
Local remedies (creams, varnishes). They do not always penetrate the nail plate well. Therefore, you need to prepare in advance: cut off too large masses of the nail with a nail clipper or remove them with a cutter. You can't do it yourself: you can damage the cells that give rise to the nail plate.
Combined therapy: simultaneous administration of a systemic drug and application of a local antifungal agent to the affected nail. It is used in severe cases to slightly minimize the severity of side effects of systemic drugs. The effectiveness of such treatment is also not very high.
In some cases, dermatologists remove the affected nail plate before prescribing a topical treatment. Now they try to do this less and less, limiting themselves only to filing the affected area, to avoid infection of the nail bed with bacteria.
It would seem that onychomycosis cannot be treated, but in reality it is more than just a cosmetic defect. It can cause a serious mixed (fungal and bacterial) infection of the foot or hand, which can even lead to gangrene.
How do nails look after fungal treatment?
In the first 2-3 months from the start of the use of local medications, the nail plate will still not change noticeably. The fungi remaining in the subungual space continue to multiply and a thickening or, conversely, a thinning forms on the nail again. The culture plate retains its pathological color for some time: yellow, milky white, black or brown. It may still have scales, ribbing, or curves. It may have splinters or an area where it moves away from your bed.
When treated with tablets, pathological changes in the growing nail plate can be observed for less than two months. Then, after treating the fungus, the area of the nail closest to the hole should take on a healthy appearance:
- become soft;
- changes color to pink or reddish, uniform in color;
- acquire normal thickness.
If the nail grows back after removing the entire nail plate, it has the right to be a little thinner. This is also an indicator of your health.
If, despite the treatment, after 2-3 months the nails remain altered in color, thickness or smoothness, then the therapy should be reviewed.
How quickly will the entire nail become healthy?
It depends on the growth rate of the nail plates. It is influenced by:
- age: the younger the person, the higher the speed;
- nature of nutrition: insufficient intake of vitamins and microelements reduces the rate of nail growth;
- Room temperature: in hot weather, nails grow faster;
- frequency of nail injuries: they slow down the growth of plates;
- hormonal state: for example, during pregnancy, the rate of plaque growth increases;
- the presence of common chronic diseases: they slow down nail growth;
- take medications that affect the rate of cell division.
On average, a healthy nail after fungal treatment on the hands grows in 6 months, on the feet - in 12-18 months. Fingernails and toenails grow more slowly than others. So, if the nail plates on 2-5 fingers of the lower extremities grow at a speed of 1 mm/month, then on the first finger this speed is up to 0. 7 mm/month.
How can the treatment of onychomycosis be accelerated?
To grow nails back faster after fungal treatment, laser therapy can be used. It consists of treating the nail plate with a neodymium laser device with a wavelength of 1064 nm. Its radiation freely penetrates the nail bed and there heats the fungal cells to high temperatures, as a result of which they die. Additionally, the heat from the laser activates blood circulation in the nail bed, which accelerates the growth of a healthy nail plate.
The laser is used in conjunction with local therapy. After a laser treatment session, the patient should apply the recommended cream or varnish to the nails, as well as carefully treat the shoes with an antiseptic to avoid reinfection.
The effectiveness of neodymium laser treatment of onychomycosis has been proven in several foreign multicenter studies. It is an excellent addition to local treatment, has a short duration and is not accompanied by side effects.
Therefore, a healthy nail plate should begin to grow in the first months from the start of treatment. It may be a little thinner than usual, but it has a uniform pink color and softness. The treatment process is significantly accelerated when the affected plaques are treated with a neodymium laser.