Why does fungus appear on nails? What are the signs of the disease? This disease destroys the nail plate and causes many problems. Our medical experts answered frequently asked questions and explained how we can quickly cure the disease with effective medications.
According to statistics, 20% of the total population of the Earth is susceptible to nail infections caused by parasitic fungi. This condition is called onychomycosis and is caused by fungus on the nails.
What is Onychomycosis?
The disease is contagious in nature, infection occurs from person to person and through contact and household use with objects of general use. A fungal infection attacks the nail plate, eats away at it and destroys the nail.
Toenail fungus occurs most often on the toenails because the feet are more susceptible to negative influences. However, the beginning of the development of a pathology is preceded by a weakening of the immune system, which leads to a decrease in the body's defenses, as a result of which the immune system cannot be sufficiently effective in the fight against pathogens.
Some types of mycotic infections cause onychomycosis of the hands and feet:
- dermatophytes;
- Yeast;
- moldy;
- trichophytosis;
- microsporia;
- Athlete's foot.
All fungal pathogens can be divided into two broad categories:
- Pathogenic.
- Conditionally pathogenic.
Pathogenic microorganisms are microorganisms that invade from outside and cause harm to human life. Conditionally pathogenic pathogens are those that normally live on the skin, mucous membranes and keratin areas of the human body, for example fungi of the genus Candida.
Normally the body coexists in symbiosis with opportunistic pathogenic microorganisms. However, with a decrease in immunity and favorable conditions, these organisms begin to develop uncontrollably, which leads to the emergence of a pathological process.
Why does fungus appear on nails?
The most common causes of mycosis can include:
- weakened immune system;
- accompanying chronic diseases (e. g. eczema, diabetes);
- Failure to comply with personal hygiene rules;
- Visiting places where fungal infections are concentrated (bathhouse, sauna, swimming pool, public shower, water park);
- Wearing closed shoes that cause your feet to sweat a lot;
- age (after 65 years, natural immunity decreases);
- Conditions of the working environment (working in a humid environment, at elevated room temperature, in radiation, dusty and dirty environments).
Under such conditions, nail fungus develops on the hands and feet. It was found that the disease is also distributed by gender - men suffer almost three times more often than women.
How does the pathogen penetrate the nail plate?
The keratin plate itself is not susceptible to the penetration of mycotic pathogens. For an infection to develop, its integrity must be compromised. There are three main routes through which mycotic organisms invade:
- Through the nail plate due to injury and damage to the keratin layer;
- Through the subungual notch;
- Through the proximal nail fold.
Conditionally pathogenic organisms often cause inflammation of the cuticle.
What types of onychomycosis are there?
The disease comes in three types or stages, each of which differs in severity:
- Normotrophic type. Yellowish-gray thin stripes appear on the nail plate, brittleness and brittleness appear, but thickening and subungual hyperkeratosis do not occur.
- Hypertrophic type. It appears when no treatment was carried out or it was incorrectly selected and ineffective. First, the phenomenon of subungual hyperkeratosis occurs, which leads to thickening that persists for a long time after successful treatment.
- Atrophic type. The most difficult stage of the disease. The nail becomes thinner, becomes brittle and brittle, turns dark gray-brown, over time its growth is disturbed and complete detachment from the nail bed occurs.
Finding out the type of disease will help you decide how to treat nail fungus.
What are the symptoms of onychomycosis?
Signs that indicate a fungal infection:
- the appearance of light yellow or grayish stripes and spots on the nail plate, which make their appearance painful;
- Color change of the plate to yellow, brown and brown, darkening to black over time;
- the cuticle and proximal ridge become inflamed;
- the plate thickens and becomes brittle, brittle, crumbly;
- a characteristic specific smell is created;
- Over time, the nail plate peels off completely.
How do you diagnose the disease?
Color changes, roughness, and chipping may indicate onychomycosis. However, similar symptoms are also characteristic of many other diseases (e. g. eczema, psoriasis, lichen planus). Therefore, a medical examination is not enough.
If you have this problem, you need to consult a dermatologist, podiatrist or mycologist. If it is difficult to determine the cause of the illness, you should contact a general practitioner or family doctor who will refer you to a specialist. To adjust treatment, you may need to consult a surgeon.
When making a diagnosis, the mycotic origin of the infection must be checked. For this purpose, a microscopic examination of the keratin thickening is carried out. However, in order to determine the type of pathogen, a bacterial culture must be created for analysis.
How to cure nail fungus?
Treatment is a lengthy process that can last from several months to a year and requires significant effort from the patient.
Antifungal therapy depends on the route of exposure in the affected area and can be:
- local – the use of only local ointments and creams that affect the pathogen at the lesion site;
- systemic – the use of oral antifungal drugs with systemic action, which are necessary if the infection has penetrated into the affected area through the bloodstream;
- combined - a combination of local and systemic therapy that gives the best result.
The most effective means of combating nail fungus are systemic preparations that contain the following substances:
- Substance ketoconazole— The effectiveness of treatment with this remedy is achieved in half of cases, the approximate duration is 8 to 12 months;
- Substance itraconazoleis a popular antifungal that is effective in 85% of cases. Its clear advantage is the short duration of treatment - only 10 days;
- Substance terbinafine hydrochloride- one of the best remedies that helps in 90% of cases. The duration of treatment for onychomycosis on the hands is up to 4 months and on the feet from 6 months. However, the changed appearance caused by mycosis can last for a long time - up to 50 weeks.
Systemic therapy is used for moderate severity. Usually oral antifungals are combined with the use of local ointments. However, systemic agents have a number of side effects and can be toxic. Therefore, their use is not practiced in pregnant and lactating women, as well as in people with chronic metabolic and liver diseases.
Local remedies in the form of creams and ointments do not have a toxic effect, but are only treated in mild cases - when only ⅓ of the nail plate is changed and the pathogen does not penetrate deep into the keratin tissue. This is because topical products cannot penetrate deep into the keratin layer.
In mild cases, systemic agents can be avoided if treatment is started promptly. However, with an advanced clinical picture, it is sometimes necessary to surgically remove the damaged area and only then carry out local therapy. Removal is painless and results in complete recovery with subsequent antifungal treatment.