Why do nail fungus appear? What are the signs of the disease? This disease destroys the nail plate and causes many problems. Our medical experts answered frequently asked questions and told us how to cure it quickly with effective medications.
According to statistics, 20% of the total population of the Earth is susceptible to nail infections caused by parasitic fungi. This condition is called onychomycosis and is caused by nail fungus.
What is onychomycosis?
The disease is infectious in nature, contagion occurs from person to person, as well as by contact and at home through commonly used objects. A fungal infection attacks the nail plate and eats away at it, destroying the nail.
Toenail fungus most often occurs on the toenails, as the feet are more susceptible to negative influences. However, the beginning of the development of pathology is preceded by a weakening of the immune system, which leads to a decrease in the body's defenses, which does not allow the immune system to be sufficiently effective in the fight against pathogens.
Some types of fungal infections cause onychomycosis of the hands and feet:
- dermatophytes;
- yeast;
- moldy;
- trichophytosis;
- microsporia;
- athlete's foot.
All pathogenic fungi fall into two broad categories:
- Pathogen.
- Conditionally pathogenic.
Pathogenic microorganisms are microorganisms that penetrate from the outside and cause harm to human life. Conditionally pathogenic agents are those that normally live on the skin, mucosal and keratinous areas of the human body, for example, fungi of the genus Candida.
Normally, the organism coexists symbiotically with opportunistic pathogenic microorganisms. But with a decrease in immunity and favorable conditions, these organisms begin to develop uncontrollably, which leads to the emergence of a pathological process.
Why do nail fungus appear?
Common causes of mycoses may include the following:
- weakened immune system;
- concomitant chronic diseases (eg, eczema, diabetes);
- non-compliance with personal hygiene rules;
- visiting places where fungal infections are concentrated (baths, saunas, swimming pools, public showers, water parks);
- wearing closed shoes, in which the feet are subject to profuse sweating;
- old age (after 65 years, natural immunity decreases);
- Environmental working conditions (work in a humid environment, at high ambient temperatures, when there is radiation, dusty and dirty environments).
In such conditions, fungus develops on the fingernails and toenails. It has been observed that the disease is also distributed according to sex: men suffer from it almost 3 times more than women.
How does the pathogen penetrate the nail plate?
The keratin plate itself is not vulnerable to the penetration of fungal pathogens. For an infection to begin to develop, its integrity must be compromised. There are three main ways in which fungal organisms enter:
- Through the nail plate due to injuries and damage to the keratin layer;
- Through the subungual notch;
- Through the proximal nail fold.
Conditionally pathogenic organisms often cause inflammation of the cuticle.
What types of onychomycosis exist?
The disease occurs in three types or stages, each of which differs in severity:
- Normotrophic type. Thin yellowish-gray stripes appear on the nail plate, fragility and brittleness appear, but thickening and subungual hyperkeratosis do not occur.
- Hypertrophic type. It appears when there was no treatment or it was selected incorrectly and was ineffective. First of all, the phenomenon of subungual hyperkeratosis occurs, which leads to thickening that persists for a long time after successful treatment.
- atrophic type. The most difficult stage of the disease. The nail becomes thinner, becomes brittle and brittle, changes color to a dark grayish-brown, over time its growth is interrupted and a complete separation of the nail bed occurs.
Knowing the type of disease will allow you to decide how to treat nail fungus.
What are the symptoms of onychomycosis?
Signs indicating a fungal infection:
- the appearance of light yellow or grayish stripes and spots on the nail plate, making its appearance appear painful;
- change in color of the plate to yellow, brown and brown, which over time darkens to black;
- the cuticle and proximal ridge become inflamed;
- the plaque thickens and becomes brittle, brittle and brittle;
- a characteristic specific smell appears;
- Over time, the nail plate comes off completely.
How to diagnose the disease?
Color changes, roughness and flaking can help suspect onychomycosis. However, similar symptoms are also characteristic of many other diseases (for example, eczema, psoriasis, lichen planus). Therefore, a medical examination is not enough.
Faced with this problem, it is necessary to contact a dermatologist, podiatrist or mycologist. If it is difficult to differentiate the cause of the disease, you should contact a general practitioner or family doctor, who will refer you to a specialist. To adjust treatment, you may need to consult a surgeon.
When making a diagnosis, it is necessary to verify the fungal origin of the infection. To do this, a microscopic examination of keratin thickening is performed. However, to determine the type of pathogen, it is necessary to perform a bacterial culture for analysis.
How to cure nail fungus?
Treatment is a long process, lasting from several months to a year and requiring significant effort on the part of the patient.
Antifungal therapy depends on the route of exposure to the affected area and may be:
- local - the use of only local ointments and creams that affect the pathogen at the site of injury;
- systemic - the use of oral antifungal drugs of systemic action, which are necessary if the infection has penetrated the affected area through the bloodstream;
- combined - a combination of local and systemic therapy, which gives the best result.
As the most effective remedy for nail fungus, systemic preparations containing the following substances are used:
- ketoconazole substance— the effectiveness of treatment with this remedy is achieved in half of the cases, the approximate course is 8 to 12 months;
- itraconazole substanceIt is a popular antifungal drug that is effective in 85% of cases. Its clear advantage is the short treatment: only 10 days;
- substance terbinafine hydrochloride- one of the best remedies that helps in 90% of cases. The course of treatment lasts up to 4 months for onychomycosis on the hands and from 6 months on the feet. However, the appearance altered by mycosis can persist for a long time, up to 50 weeks.
Systemic therapy is used in cases of moderate severity or more. Typically, oral antifungals are combined with the use of local ointments. However, systemic agents have several side effects and can be toxic. Therefore, its use is not practiced in pregnant and lactating women, as well as in people with chronic metabolic and liver diseases.
Local remedies in the form of creams and ointments do not have a toxic effect, but are treated only in mild cases, when only ⅓ of the nail plate is changed and when there is no deep penetration of the pathogen into the keratin tissue. This is due to the fact that local products cannot penetrate deeply into the keratin layer.
In mild cases, when treatment was started in a timely manner, systemic agents can be dispensed with. However, with an advanced clinical picture, sometimes it is necessary to surgically remove the damaged area and only then perform local therapy. The removal is painless and with subsequent antifungal treatment a complete recovery is achieved.