Onychomycosis is a disease in which a fungal infection affects the surface of the nail plate. There are 3 types of pathogens, which are most often detected in the analyzes: yeast-like fungi, molds, dermatophytes.
Why does the fungus appear?
The fungus itself cannot appear. The disease is always preceded by certain pushing factors, such as:
- Using household items with fungal spores. If one family member has onychomycosis, and others use his towel, slippers or socks, the risk of infection is quite high.
- Visiting public places with a large flow of people. Saunas, baths, swimming pools, solariums, showers, fitness clubs, beaches - all these locations can become a place of infection with onychomycosis.
- Constant high temperature and humidity of shoes. Fungal infection often overtakes office workers and military personnel, who are forced to spend all day in shoes. Lack of air, tight space and uncomfortable shoe models provoke increased sweating, blood stasis and, as a result, onychomycosis.
- Reduced immunity. If the immune defense is weakened from the disease, after taking antibiotics and other reasons, onychomycosis may appear.
- Person's age. In children, the fungus does not appear due to physiological characteristics - the infectious pathogen takes a certain time to gain a foothold and multiply. And the nails of children grow very quickly, so onychomycosis does not have time to develop. It often affects adults and almost always the elderly and the elderly. Their nail plates grow very slowly, and therefore it is especially difficult to remove the fungus on senile nails.
How to understand that nails are affected by mycosis?
When the nail plate changes in any way, this indicates possible problems. Signs of onychomycosis will be the following conditions:
- cracks between the fingers;
- yellowing of the nail plate;
- thickening of the skin;
- separation of the nail without mechanical reasons;
- burning and itching;
- inflamed nail fold;
- Thinning or thickening of the nail.
A healthy nail should be pink, shiny and smooth.
Fast and effective methods of treating fungus at home
The fight against onychomycosis usually takes at least a month. The sooner you start treatment, the faster you will get rid of the disease. You can turn to traditional medicine, or use pharmaceutical preparations. But it is better to combine time-tested advice and effective medications - this will allow you to quickly forget about the fungus.
Preparing the nail plate for treatment
Often, a simple application of antifungal drugs does not bring the desired result. This happens because medicinal substances cannot penetrate inside through the nail thickened due to the fungus.
Before starting treatment, the nail plate affected by onychomycosis should be removed. There are several ways to do this:
- Steam your feet in hot water. It is important to keep the water temperature fairly high (up to 50 degrees) for about half an hour. To do this, you can pour dry mustard into the water and constantly add new portions of hot liquid. Next, you need to cut off the overgrown part of the steamed nail plate, and reduce the thickness of the nail itself with a file with low abrasiveness (100-150 grit).
- Buy antifungal cream paste from the pharmacy. This tool is from the budget segment, but its action can replace surgical or laser nail removal. The paste contains urea, which softens the nail plate without pain and discomfort, after which it is cut off or removed with a scraper. The drug is applied to clean and dry nails affected by onychomycosis, and a patch is glued on top of it crosswise. It is important not to remove it for about 2 days. With an advanced stage of the fungus, several such procedures may be required.
- Use antifungal cream. The main component is urea or urea. On steamed, but towel-dried nails, you need to apply cream, seal with a plaster and do not remove for 3-4 days. Then again make a hot bath, remove the softened fragments.
Without removing the nail or its fragment affected by onychomycosis, it is pointless to be treated.
Steaming baths
High temperature and water softens the nail plate. It becomes easier to handle it and, if necessary, remove diseased fragments. Before any medical procedure, you should steam your legs well. You can do this in the following ways:
- Stir 4 tablespoons of iodized salt, 200 g of baking soda and a few drops of lavender essential oil in hot water. Lower your legs and keep until it cools. Then wash and dry with a clean towel.
- Finely grate a piece of tar soap. Add 3 tablespoons of the resulting "powder", a glass of baking soda to a bowl of hot water, steam your legs for 10-20 minutes. It is good to use such a bath as a preparation before the next treatment procedure.
Cleaning products
When it is not possible to make a compress or apply ointment for a long time, wiping a sore nail will help. Onychomycosis requires constant and complex treatment, so sometimes you can use folk recipes:
- Moisten a cotton ball in apple cider vinegar, generously lubricate diseased nails. The fungus loves an alkaline environment, so its oxidation will inhibit the infection.
- Mix 2 tablespoons of calendula and lilac flowers, pour a glass of vodka, let it brew for at least a week. Apply to sore nails three times a day.
Wraps and compresses
Compresses have a good effect on the health of the nail, eliminate the infectious agent.
- Pour celandine oil on a cotton pad. Put on the infected nail, bandage slightly, put on socks on top and walk all day. After that, you can treat the plate with hydrogen peroxide or iodine.
- Grate a few cloves of garlic on a fine grater, add 1 teaspoon of any vegetable oil. Apply the resulting gruel to the diseased nail plates, make a bandage on top and put on socks. Leave it on for a few hours. If there is a burning sensation, remove the compress, wash your feet with tar soap.
Creams, pharmaceutical solutions
Antimycotic pharmaceuticals are effective against fungal infections. Often in the line of products from one manufacturer there are both liquid forms of funds and various creams with the same active substance in the composition.
Tablets and capsules for oral administration
Treatment of a fungus is sometimes impossible without exposure to it "from the inside". Taking antimycotics accelerates recovery.
How to treat advanced toenail fungus
If you start onychomycosis, folk remedies become ineffective. In this case, you will definitely need a consultation with a mycologist or at least a dermatologist. Most likely, he will prescribe the following procedures:
- Identifying the pathogen. Usually a scraping is taken from the plate, less often - a fragment of the nail. These materials are sent for microscopic examination.
- Taking medication. After determining the parasitic fungus, internal antimycotics and topical preparations are prescribed.
- Removal of the affected part of the nail or the entire plate. If onychomycosis affects less than half of its area, a medical pedicure is prescribed. If the entire nail plate has become infected, it may need to be removed surgically.
Methods of iodine treatment
The causative agent of onychomycosis feeds on keratin in the epidermis. The harmful effect of iodine for the fungus is that it sticks together this protein, and the infection dies. Repeated application of iodine to the affected area also practically cauterizes the parasitic pathogen. The drug has an antiseptic effect, which prevents the infection from developing again.
Iodine is a powerful medicine. It can only be applied to the affected nail fragments. Contact with healthy skin can cause inflammation and severe burning.
In the advanced stage of onychomycosis, iodine can help as an additive in steaming baths. Pour the entire preparation from the bottle into hot water, lower your legs for 20-30 minutes. A pronounced antiseptic effect will be exerted not only on the nails, but also on the skin, where there may also be spores of the causative agent of the infection. After the procedure, you can treat your feet with hydrogen peroxide.
At the initial stage, you need to apply iodine to the nail plate using a cotton swab every few days. When after about a week the area under the affected area begins to burn, this will be a good result, indicating a successful treatment.
For a simultaneous anti-fungal and caring effect, you can add 3 drops of iodine to 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Heat this mixture in a water bath, apply on sore nails, and put on clean socks on top. Leave overnight, wash your feet with soap and water in the morning.
Iodine is one of the most budgetary pharmaceuticals with high efficiency. Its continuous use is possible throughout the month. If there are no results, you should change the type of therapy or consult a doctor.
Onychomycosis is successfully treated with complex local and systemic therapy. The combination of pharmaceuticals and folk remedies will allow you to defeat a fungal infection in a period of 1 month.