Big Toenail Fungus Treatment

Treatment of onychomycosis takes at least six months and requires the correct prescribed treatment. Many people, especially on the eve of summer, are concerned about this question: How long will it take for nails to return to their previous healthy appearance? What will they look like after starting treatment? What about a month or two later?In addition, whether the treatment is effective can also be judged by the appearance of the nails. Let’s take a look at what to look for in the appearance of your nails after fungal treatment.

Why is onychomycosis so difficult to treat?

Onychomycosis (fungal infection of the nail plate) can be difficult to treat for everyone. There are three reasons:Microbes can get into the nail bed, and not all topical medications can reach it. In addition, most fungi provide themselves with "protection" in the form of thickened nail plates.
In most cases, onychomycosis is accompanied by a fungal infection of the feet. And once a person heals their nails, the fungus can re-enter the nail bed from the skin of the feet.Re-infection can also occur through one's own socks, shoes and when bathing/showering.

Classic treatments for onychomycosis

Currently, there are three main methods used in medicine to treat onychomycosis:Systemic medication in tablet or capsule form. They can help, but for this they need to undergo a long course - from 4 to 18 months. All of these drugs are toxic to the liver; taking them may be complicated by diarrhea, rash, and taste changes. Therefore, during treatment, you need to strictly follow a therapeutic diet, abstain from alcohol and undergo regular blood tests - "liver tests".Topical treatments (creams, varnishes). They don't always penetrate the deck well. Therefore, preparation must be made in advance: cut off the excess nail pieces with scissors or remove them with scissors. You can't do this on your own: You could damage the cells that form your nail plate.Combination therapy: Systemic medications and topical antifungal medications are administered simultaneously to the affected nail. It is used in severe cases to slightly reduce the severity of systemic drug side effects. The therapeutic effect is not very high.In some cases, a dermatologist will remove the affected nail plate before applying topical treatments. Nowadays, they do this less and less and are limited to filing down the affected area to avoid bacterial infection of the nail bed.Onychomycosis may seem like it can be left untreated, but in fact it represents more than just an aesthetic defect. It can cause severe mixed (fungal and bacterial) infections of the feet or hands and may even lead to gangrene.

What will nails look like after fungal treatment?

There will be no noticeable changes in the nail plate for the first 2-3 months after you start using topical medications. The fungus remaining in the subungual space continues to multiply, and the nail becomes thicker or thinner again. The growth plates retain their pathological color for some time: yellow, creamy white, black or brown. It may remain scaly, ribbed, or curved. There may be debris on it, or the area where it leaves the bed. When treated with tablets, pathological changes in the growing nail plate can be observed in less than two months. Then, after treating the fungus, the area of the nail closest to the hole should take on a healthy appearance:

• become smooth;
• The color changes to pink or red and the color is uniform;
• Get normal thickness.

If the nail grows back after the entire nail plate is removed, it has the right to become a little thinner. It's also an indicator of his health.
If, despite treatment, the color, thickness or smoothness of the nail changes after 2-3 months, treatment must be reconsidered.

How long does it take for the entire nail to become healthy?

This depends on how quickly the nail plate grows. It is affected by the following factors:

• Age: The younger the person, the greater the speed;
• Nutritional properties: Insufficient intake of vitamins and trace elements, reduced nail growth rate;
• Ambient temperature: Nails grow faster in warm climates;
• Frequency of nail injuries: They can slow down the growth of the nail plate;
• Hormonal status: for example, during pregnancy, the growth rate of plates increases;
• Presence of common chronic diseases: they slow down nail growth;
• Taking drugs that affect the rate at which cells divide.

On average, healthy nails will grow back within 6 months after treating fungus on the hands, and 12-18 months on the feet. Nails on thumbs and toes grow more slowly than other nails. Therefore, if the nail plate on the 2-5 fingers of the lower limbs grows at a rate of 1 mm/month, then the rate on the first finger can reach 0. 7 mm/month.

How to speed up the treatment of onychomycosis?

To make nails grow back faster after fungal treatment, laser therapy can be used. It involves the treatment of the nail plate using a neodymium laser device with a wavelength of 1064 nm. Its radiation freely penetrates the nail bed and heats the fungal cells to high temperatures, causing the fungus to die. Additionally, the heat generated by the laser activates blood circulation in the nail bed, thereby accelerating the growth of a healthy nail plate.Laser is used in conjunction with topical treatments. After the laser treatment, the patient should apply the recommended cream or varnish to the nails and carefully treat the shoes with disinfectant to avoid reinfection.Several foreign multi-center studies have tested the effectiveness of neodymium laser in treating onychomycosis. This is an excellent complement to topical treatments, and the procedure is short and not associated with side effects.Therefore, a healthy nail plate should begin to grow within the first few months of treatment. It may be a little thinner than usual, but has an even pink color and smoothness. When the affected plate is treated with a neodymium laser, the treatment process is significantly accelerated.