Many people suffer from fungal nails and are becoming increasingly irritated by the lack of progress they have made utilizing frequently available over-the-counter medications. So, how should you treat your fungal nail?
This blog will discuss infection mechanisms and therapy, and the ten most important things you should know about treating your fungal nail are given below.
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In most cases, but not all, nail infection follows an injury.
Taking care of your fungal nail can be a real pain in the foot.
Nail fungus is an opportunist that usually (but not always) infects when a nail is damaged, which is why it rarely spreads to the healthy nails next door.
Because of the nail damage caused by ill-fitted and inadequately laced running shoes, especially when running downhill, runners frequently develop several fungal nail infections.
You could have gotten your fungus from someone else.
The dermophyte that causes an athlete’s foot is found naturally on most feet. However, when it reproduces unchecked, we get the characteristic itching, redness, macerated tissue between the toes, and nail alterations.
The fungus may have been ‘caught’ or spread to the foot from a shared surface, such as a changing room floor, a hotel restroom, a swimming pool surround, a family member, or another source.
After acquiring the fungal spore(s), it can be carried in footwear for some time before becoming active, awaiting circumstances for activation and growth.
Fungus is obsessed with shoes.
A fungus thrives in your shoe’s warm, dark, and damp circumstances when your foot is within it.
The athlete’s foot is frequently present. If you have an infection between your toes, you most likely have it on the sole of your foot. It does not always itch.
Sanitizing footwear is essential for any fungal treatment.
Consider this.
Our footwear is the only piece of clothing we wear every day and is never clean save for the occasional shine. Definitely not the inside.
Footwear must be treated concurrently with fungal infection for complete eradication, or re-infection will occur.
Don’t merely take care of your nails.
Anti-fungal spray, such as Daktarin Spray, should be used every time you change shoes, in addition to treating the skin and nails of the foot.
Wrapping your shoes in a plastic bag and freezing them for 24 hours can kill most microorganisms and give you an advantage.
Because fungal spores cannot survive beyond 37°C, wearing socks once and washing them in a 40°C wash will sanitize them.
Nail fungus is extremely tough to treat with over-the-counter medications.
To begin, when a Podiatrist applies an otc (over-the-counter) treatment, they will remove all of the fungal nail as a starting point.
This will be done far more thoroughly than you could do at home and will usually be painless because the nail being removed is already loose and not linked to the nail bed.
This permits the product to be applied directly to the infection location.
Not all of the discoloration you notice is caused by ‘living’ fungus.
Fungal nail infection is similar to a forest fire in that it is obvious to see where it has been, but it is only active at the leading edge, which is usually quite a way up underneath the nail towards the matrix – i.e. where it grows from.
This is one of the reasons why fungal nail tests can be negative: the fungal nail removed from the edge is dead, and hence no culture is created.
Clippings must be collected from high up the nail, as well as skin scrapings from the same location. Make an appointment with your Podiatrist.
