Few Treatments Available for Your Fungal Nail Infection That You Must Know

Quite often, you may notice that your toenails are getting discolored, cracked, and appears to be much thicker than usual, and you may wonder whether it is a symptom of any fungal nail infection. There can be many other issues that can also affect your toenails, but fungal infection can often be the usual culprit.

Almost 50% of nail infections are because of fungus only. Particularly, if you are already above 60 years of age. As per the statistics, 3 out of every senior citizen may have this issue while for younger adults it can be 1 out of 5.

If you happen to be a diabetic person, then you should not take your nail fungus lightly. Most diabetic people may have this issue. Therefore, any diabetic person must always see a podiatrist Irvine, if you ever notice such an issue with your nails.

Fungal infections may cause certain foul smell and also there can be unsightly appearances around your nail plate. In case you are able to identify it all by yourself then it is great! However, don’t ignore to see any doctor to seek proper treatment.

An Irvine podiatrist usually may prescribe you a certain cream. There is a few laser therapy also available that can totally eliminate such infection. A qualified professional will evaluate your condition properly and suggest you a suitable remedy.

Let us try to know what the various symptoms of fungal nail infection symptoms are. As most of us may expose our feet and toes toa warm, damp environment, where the chances of infection are maximum. Even your feet can also get affected by certain fungal infections.

The chances of such infection will be more if you do the following:

• Spend more time at various swimming pools
• Walk a lot around any locker rooms
• Often wear the same damp socks
• Injure your toenail

Initially, you may not see any visual indication however, in due course of time, your nails are likely to end up with the following symptoms:

• Have certain white spots on the surface
• May turn into white, green, yellow, or brown
• Often grow thicker than usual or even thinner than normal
• May change shape, often curling up or also down
• Become quite brittle, with jagged or broken edges
• Liftoff of your nail bed
• Cause you pain
• Smell bad

When you must see your doctor?

Do you notice the above symptoms, then don’t ignore them and take certain home-based treatments, because they will never help? You must consider visiting any Orange County podiatrist and the sooner you visit, you can get rid of it quickly.

This kind of infection may often take a very worse shape, if you just ignore them and continue to believe in your home treatments. If you have noticed that your nails are turning black and also often it hurts or gets pulled away from your nail bed then you must immediately consult your doctor.

Also, for those who are diabetic, it is very essential that you should take no chance and consult the doctor immediately. If you are hoping that the problem will get resolved on its own then the chances are very remote. It may even get worse day by day.

There are the following treatments available:

1. Non-prescription treatments

During the very early stages, you may not even need any medicine at all.  He may offer you certain precautions that will resolve your problem. Also, he may offer you certain over-the-counter antifungal lotions and creams that you can easily get from any medical store even without a prescription.

These are not too expensive. However, in certain cases, these remedies may not be effective too, as they may again appear after some time. In case, that happens then you must try something more.

2. Mentholated salve

A few research has proved that a certain mentholated salve, can also eradicate your fungal infection. You can swab a little amount on your nail daily.

3. Snakeroot extracts

Snakeroot is an antifungal plant that belongs to the sunflower family. It works about as effectively as any prescription antifungal lotion for some people.

4. Tea tree oil

Since it is a natural antiseptic, therefore, you can also try applying this tea tree oil on your affected nail at least 2 times a day. Avoid taking this oil by mouth, as it can be quite toxic. However, it is still not very clear how effective this treatment can be.

5. Listerine or vinegar

You can also soak your afflicted nails, in vinegar or Listerine for 5 minutes each day.

6. Prescription medicines

If all the above treatments are ineffective for you then you must visit any dermatologist or podiatrist. They will try to gently scrape under the nail to remove some of your fungiandmay send it to any lab for proper diagnosis. They may also prescribe any stronger medications.

7. Topical medicines

If your infection is quite mild then your doctor may prescribe you a certain antifungal skin cream to rub on your nail or certain nail lacquer so that you can paint iton the nail surface.

You will prefer to trim the nail and then soak the affected area first. This will help the drug to attack on the deepest fungus layers.

Gennaro Murazik