Onychomycosis is a fungal infection that affects the surface of the nail. There are 3 types of pathogens that are commonly detected in the analysis: yeast-like fungi, mold, and dermatophytes.
Why do mushrooms appear?
The mushroom itself cannot appear. Disease always precedes certain predisposing factors, such as:
- Use household appliances with fungal spores. If a family member has onychomycosis and others use his towels, sandals or socks, the risk of infection is quite high.
- Visit public places with a large crowd. Sauna, bathtub, swimming pool, solarium, shower, fitness club, beach - all these places can become a fungal infection.
- Continuous high temperature and humidity of shoes. Fungal infections often occur with office workers and military personnel, who are forced to wear shoes all day. Lack of air, compressed space and uncomfortable shoe styles increase perspiration, blood stasis and result in onychomycosis.
- Decreased immunity. If immune defenses are impaired by disease, after taking antibiotics and other reasons, onychomycosis may appear.
- Your age. In children, fungi do not appear due to physiological characteristics - infectious pathogens take a certain time to gain ground and multiply. And children's nails grow so quickly that the onychomycosis doesn't have time to grow. It usually affects adults and is almost always the elderly and the elderly. Their nail sheets grow very slowly, and are therefore especially difficult to get rid of fungus on older people's nails.
How do I understand that nails are affected by fungal disease?
When the foundation plate changes in any way this indicates possible problems. Signs of onychomycosis will be the following conditions:
- cracks between fingers;
- stains on the nail plate;
- thickened skin;
- separates nails for no mechanical reason;
- burning and itching;
- inflamed nail folds;
- Thin or thickened nails.
Healthy nails should be pink, glossy and smooth.
Fast and effective home remedies
The fight against onychomycosis usually takes at least a month. The earlier you start treatment, the quicker the recovery will be. You can switch to traditional medicine, or use pharmaceutical preparations. But it's better to combine time-tested advice and effective medication - this will allow you to quickly forget about mycosis.
Preparing the nails for treatment
Usually, applying an antifungal agent alone does not produce the desired results. This is because the drugs cannot get inside through the fungal thickening of the nail.
Before starting the treatment, the part of the nail affected by the onychomycosis must be removed. There are several ways to do this:
- Hot water steaming. 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 continuously add new hot liquid portions. Next, you need to cut off the overgrowth of the steamed nail plate, and reduce the thickness of the nail with a file with low abrasion (100-150 grit).
- Buy antifungal cream at the pharmacy. This tool is from the budget segment, but its action could replace surgery or laser nail resection. The paste contains urea, which softens the nail without causing pain and discomfort, which is then removed or removed with a scraper. The drug is applied to clean and dry nails affected by onychomycosis, and a patch is glued diagonally on top. It is important not to remove it for about 2 days. With the fungal evolutionary stage, some such procedures may be required.
- Use anti-fungal cream. The main ingredient is urea or urea. For steamed nails that have been dried with a towel, you need to apply cream, fill with plaster and not remove for 3-4 days. Then take a hot shower again, removing the soften.
Without removing the nail or its piece affected by onychomycosis, treatment is futile.
Saunas
High temperatures and water will soften nails. Handling it becomes easier and if necessary, remove the diseased pieces. Before performing any medical procedure, you should give your legs a steam. You can do the following:
- Stir well 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 hold them until it cools down. Then rinse and dry with a clean towel.
- Finely sift a piece of tar soap. Add 3 tablespoons of "powder" obtained, a cup of baking soda in a bowl of hot water, steam your feet for 10-20 minutes. It would be great if you use such a bath as a preparatory step before performing the next treatment procedure.
Cleaning products
When it is not possible to apply or apply ointment for a long time, it helps to wipe painful nails. Onychomycosis requires constant and complex treatment, so you can sometimes use the folk formula:
- Soak a cotton pad in apple cider vinegar, lubricate the affected nails. sick. The fungus is very alkaline, so its oxidation inhibits infection.
- Mix 2 tablespoons of chamomile and lilac flowers, pour a glass of vodka, and let stand for at least a week. Apply to sore nails three times a day.
Wrapping and compressing
Compression is good for nail health, eliminating infectious agents.
- Pour royal tree oil on a cotton pad. Put on the infected nail, light bandage, put on socks and walk all day. You can then treat the disc with either hydrogen peroxide or iodine.
- Grate a few cloves of garlic on a fine mill, add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil. Apply the resulting paste to the affected nail patches, cover it with a bandage, and put on socks. Leave it on for a few hours. If there is a burning sensation, remove the gauze pad, and wash your feet with ringworm soap.
Creams, pharmaceutical solutions
Antispasmodic drugs are effective against fungal infections. Often in the product line of a manufacturer there are both liquid products and different creams with the same active ingredient in the ingredients.
Tablets and capsules for oral administration
Fungal treatment is sometimes not possible without coming into contact with "from within" fungi. Taking anticonvulsants helps speed recovery.
End stage toenail fungus treatment
If you start to have onychomycosis, folk remedies will become ineffective. In this case, you will definitely need the advice of a mycologist or at least a dermatologist. Most likely, the doctor will prescribe the following procedures:
- Identify pathogens. Most often, a scrape is taken from the sheet, less often - a piece of the nail. These documents are sent for microscopic examination.
- Taking medication. After identifying the parasitic fungus, the inner antispasmodic and topical preparations are prescribed.
- Remove any affected nail or entire nail. If onychomycosis affects less than half of its area, then a doctor will prescribe medical pedicure care. If the entire nail becomes infected, surgery to remove it may be necessary.
Iodine Therapy
Onychomycosis that eats keratin in the epidermis. The harm of iodine to fungi is that it binds this protein together, and the infection dies. Repeated application of iodine to the affected area actually paralyzes the parasitic pathogen. The drug has an antiseptic effect, preventing the infection from recurring.
Iodine is a powerful medicine. It can only be applied to affected nail fragments. Contact with healthy skin can cause severe inflammation and burning.
In the advanced stages of onychomycosis, iodine can help as an additive in a steam bath. Pour the entire preparation from the bottle into hot water, lowering your legs for 20-30 minutes. A pronounced antiseptic effect will not only work on the nails but also on the skin, where infectious agent spores may also be present. After the procedure, you can treat your feet with hydrogen peroxide.
In the early stages, you will need to apply iodine to your nails every few days with a cotton swab. When after about a week, the skin below the damaged area begins to burn, which is a good result, indicating a successful treatment.
For a simultaneous antifungal and caring effect you can add 3 drops of iodine to 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Heat this mixture in a water bath, place it on the sore nail and put on clean socks. Leave overnight, wash feet with soap and water in the morning.
Iodine is one of the most affordable and effective pharmaceuticals. Can be used continuously throughout the month. In the absence of results, you should change the type of treatment or consult your doctor.
Onychomycosis is successfully treated with complex systemic and local therapy. The combination of medicinal and folk remedies will allow you to beat the fungal infection in a month's time.