Onychomycosis is a disease in which a fungal infection affects the surface of the nail plate. There are 3 types of pathogens most often detected in the analysis: fungi such as fungi, fungi, dermatophytes.
Why do fungi appear?
The fungus itself cannot appear. The disease is always preceded by certain driving factors, such as:
- Using household items with fungal spores. If one of the family members has onychomycosis, and the other uses towels, sandals or socks, the risk of infection is quite high.
- Visiting public places with large numbers of people. Saunas, baths, swimming pools, solariums, showers, fitness clubs, beaches - all these locations can be places of infection with onychomycosis.
- Constant high temperature and humidity of shoes. Fungal infections often afflict office workers and military personnel, who are forced to spend all day with shoes on. Lack of air, compressed space and uncomfortable shoe models cause increased sweating, blood stasis and, consequently, onychomycosis.
- Decreased immunity. If the immune defense is weakened from the disease, after taking antibiotics and other causes, onychomycosis may appear.
- A person's age. In children, fungi do not appear because of physiological features - infectious pathogens require a certain amount of time to gain a foothold and reproduce. And children's nails grow quickly, so onychomycosis does not have time to develop. Often affects adults and almost always the elderly and the elderly. Their nail plates grow slowly, and therefore it is very difficult to get rid of fungus on senile nails.
How to understand that nails are affected by mycosis?
When the nail plate changes in any way, this indicates a possible problem. Signs of onychomycosis will be the following conditions:
- cracks between the fingers;
- yellowing of nail plates;
- skin thickening;
- nail separation without mechanical cause;
- burning and itching;
- inflamed nail folds;
- Thinning or thickening of nails.
Healthy nails must be pink, shiny and smooth.
A quick and effective method to treat fungus at home
Fighting onychomycosis usually takes at least a month. The sooner you start treatment, the sooner you can get rid of the disease. You can use traditional medicine, or use pharmaceutical preparations. But it is better to combine time -tested advice and effective medications - this will allow you to forget about the fungus quickly.
Preparing a nail plate for treatment
Often, the use of moderate antifungal medications does not bring the desired results. This happens because the medicinal substance cannot penetrate in through the thickened nails 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 high enough (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 the part of the steamed nail that is too large, and reduce the thickness of the nail itself with a file with low roughness (100-150 grit).
- Buy antifungal cream paste from a pharmacy. This tool comes from the budget segment, but its action can replace nail or laser surgery. The paste contains urea, which softens the nail plate without pain and discomfort, after which it is cut or removed with a scraper. The drug is used to clean and dry the nails affected by onychomycosis, and a patch is glued on it horizontally. It is important not to throw it away for about 2 days. With advanced fungal stages, some such procedure may be required.
- Use an antifungal cream. The main component is urea or urea. On nails that are steamed, but dried with a towel, you need to apply cream, cover with plaster and do not lift for 3-4 days. Then take another hot shower, discard the softened flakes.
Without removing the nail or its fragments affected by onychomycosis, there is no point in being treated.
Steam bath
High temperature and water soften the nail plate. It becomes easier to deal with it and, if necessary, discard the diseased debris. Before undergoing any medical procedure, your feet should be well steamed. You can do this in the following way:
- Stir 4 tablespoons of iodized salt, 200 g of baking soda and a few drops of lavender essential oil in hot water. Lower the legs and keep until cool. Then wash and dry with a clean towel.
- Grate a bar of tar. Add 3 tablespoons of the resulting "powder", a glass of baking soda into a bowl of hot water, steam your feet for 10-20 minutes. It is good to use a bath as a preparation before the next treatment procedure.
Cleansing products
When it is not possible to make compresses or use ointments for a long time, wiping sore nails will help. Onychomycosis requires constant and complex treatment, so sometimes you can use folk recipes:
- Soak cotton balls in apple cider vinegar, lubricate sore nails. The fungus likes an alkaline environment, so its oxidation will prevent infection.
- Mix 2 tablespoons of calendula flowers and purple flowers, pour a glass of vodka, leave for at least a week. Apply on sore nails three times a day.
Wraps and compresses
Compresses have a good effect on nail health, get rid of infectious agents.
- Pour celandine oil on a cotton swab. Wear infected nails, a little bandage, wear socks on top and walk all day. After that, you can treat the dish 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 sore nail plate, make a bandage on top and put on socks. Leave for a few hours. If there is a burning sensation, lift the compress, wash your feet with tar soap.
Creams, pharmaceutical solutions
Antimycotic drugs are effective against fungal infections. Often in the product line from one manufacturer there are both liquid product forms and various creams with the same active ingredient in the composition.
Tablets and capsules for oral administration
Treatment of the fungus is sometimes impossible without exposure to it "from within". Taking antimycotics speeds up recovery.
How to treat advanced toenail fungus
If you start onychomycosis, folk remedies become ineffective. In this case, you definitely need a consultation with a mycologist or at least a dermatologist. Most likely, he will prescribe the following procedure:
- Identify the pathogen. Usually the friction is taken from the plate, more rarely - nail fragments. These materials are sent for microscopic examination.
- Taking medicine. After determining the parasitic fungus, internal antimycotics and topical preparations are prescribed.
- Release the affected part of the nail or the entire plate. If onychomycosis affects less than half of the area, a medical pedicure is prescribed. If the entire nail plate has become infected, it may need to be surgically removed.
Methods of iodine treatment
The causative agent of onychomycosis absorbs keratin on the epidermis. The harmful effect of iodine for the fungus is that it binds to this protein, and the infection dies. Repeated intake of iodine to the affected area can also practically cure parasitic pathogens. The drug has an antiseptic effect, which prevents the infection from developing further.
Iodine is a powerful drug. It can only be applied on the affected nail fragments. Contact with healthy skin can cause severe inflammation and burning.
In advanced stages of onychomycosis, iodine can help as an additive in steam baths. Pour the entire preparation from the bottle into hot water, lower your legs for 20-30 minutes. A significant antiseptic effect will be given not only on the nails, but also on the skin, where there are also spores of the infectious agent. After the procedure, you can treat your feet with hydrogen peroxide.
In the early stages, you need to apply iodine to the nail plate by using a cotton swab every few days. When about a week, the area under the affected area begins to burn, this will be a good result, which indicates the success of treatment.
For an anti-fungal effect and treat simultaneously, 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 wear clean socks over it. Leave on overnight, wash your feet with soap and water in the morning.
Iodine is one of the most widely estimated pharmaceuticals with high efficiency. Continuous use can be done throughout the month. If there are no results, you should change the type of therapy or see a doctor.
Onychomycosis is successfully treated with complex local and systemic therapies. A combination of medicines and folk remedies will allow you to beat fungal infections within 1 month.