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Toenail Fungal Infections
It is always best to seek treatment and advice early on. Fungal infections of the toenails are an unpleasant but common problem.
Mostly fungal infections of the toenail are not painful and initially it is mild discolouration of the nail that is noted. Over time the fungus can spread to the other toenails and eventually all the nails can be affected. The nails become crumbly, thickened and yellowed. Fungal infections take a long time to penetrate and affect the nail plate, this means that generally older people are more often affected with this condition. Athletes foot infection can often be the start of the fungal infection affecting the toenails.
Firstly basic foot care should be practiced daily. This involves washing the feet, drying well and applying a moisturiser cream. This is an essential step to improve the condition of the skin on the foot. We recommend Hydrostat as an excellent general foot cream.
What a Podiatrist can do:
Some skin conditions and medical problems manifest themselves by changing the toenail appearances and look like fungal infections. It is important to obtain a correct assessment and diagnosis.
Scrapings of the toenail can be obtained for positive culture and identification. You can buy a DIY kit for home to test for a fungal infection.
Once a fungal infection has been identified there are a variety of options available:
No treatment
This is always a valid option but the fungus can and does spread over time. It also can act as a source of skin fungal infections ie athletes foot.
Toenail paints
Podiatrists can thin down thickened toenails and thus make them more amenable to treatment via nail paints. This is a long term option and has limited success. It takes a lot of perseverance.
Anti-fungal Creams
Creams that contain anti-fungal agents can be used to treat fungus around the nails. This can be an effective early treatment when atheletes foot infections start affecting the toenails. Nailstat™ is our hero product in resolving yellow, thickened fungal toenails.
Oral medication
These are available in consultation from a GP. They are generally very effective. Once the course of treatment has been completed the toenail may take several months to improve in appearance as it takes approximately twelve months for a toenail to grow completely from base to tip.
All treatments can take twelve months to completely work as essentially the nail has to grow free of infection. You should see a normal nail begin to appear after a few weeks. It is important to pursevere with treatments.