You have seen the adverts! If toenails start to take on a yellowed, crumbly appearance then this may be a fungal infection taking hold. Over time this can lead to thickened, discoloured, infected toenails that slowly spreads to all the toenails. Seek treatment advice from a Supplefeet Podiatrist who will advise on nail-care and treatment. Nails can be painlessly smoothed and thinned down. This is an essential part of management as " keeping the fungal load low" is an important part of clinical management.
Remedies: In the early stages use a fungal nail cream to cure the infection.
We recommend 1% Clotrimazole cream applied daily to the base of the nail as an effective treatment for early fungal infections in toenails.To this we recommend Emtrix £20 as a daily application. This contains lactic acid and urea which soften up the nail.
Rarely we do recommend you see your GP to discuss the merits of taking a drug called Terbinafine (Lamisil®) which is prescribed from a doctor and acts to destroy the fungal infection. You may be asked to have a blood test to check your liver whilst taking this drug. It is important to complete the course, approximately 8 -12 weeks, it then takes at least a year for the nail to look normal again as it grows back, free of infection.
During the period when the nail is regrowing using an Antifungal cream is a useful adjunct to prevent further infections taking hold.
Do Book in for a Toenail Treatment (TNT) for £30 at Supplefeet. Nails gently thinned down, cut back and as much of the fungal infection removed as we can physically to allow the anti fungal cream to do its work.
N.B. There are several products on the market - heavily advertised - that contain no actual anti-fungal ingredient. Look for the words "active ingredient" and either an Azole eg 1% Clotrimazole or an Allymine eg Lamisil.
Anything that just paints on a nail is not going to be effective enough - Supplefeet saving you money!
