Badly infected nails sometimes need to be removed. It's a small procedure done while the area is numbed under local anaesthetic. You'll have to pay for it as it's not covered by the NHS. It can be expensive. There's little evidence to show it's a long-term cure as most studies only follow patients for 3 months.
Fungal nail infections develop when your feet are constantly warm and damp. This treatment helps keep new fungus out while the nails grow. Fingernails typically grow out in four to six months. Toenails take longer, usually takes 12 to 18 months. Probably the most difficult part of this treatment is remembering to use it as often as prescribed. Some treatments must be applied every day. Others you apply once a week.
Side effects from these medicines are generally mild. Possible side effects include redness and swelling, an ingrown toenail, and stinging or burning when you apply the medicine.
In clinical trials, none of these side effects caused patients to stop using the treatment. Medicine you take: If you need more-aggressive treatment, your dermatologist may prescribe antifungal pills.
These have a higher cure rate than medicine you apply to your nails. Antifungal pills also work more quickly than medicine applied to the nails. Taking antifungal pills for two months can cure an infection under the fingernails. Usually three months of treatment cures a toenail fungal infection.
Antifungal pills, however, can cause side effects. Your dermatologist will watch you closely. Filing down the surface of the nail may enable them to penetrate more deeply into the nail or the nail bed. Oral medications. Either of these drugs can harm the liver, so your doctor will check your liver function at the beginning of treatment and again after six weeks. Itraconazole also interacts with a number of other drugs. If you take one of these drugs you'll also need to avoid drinking alcohol and stay out of the sun.
Don't expect any product to give you toenails like those in the advertisements. However, if you adopt a daily routine of washing and drying your feet thoroughly, filing down your nails if needed, and applying a topical antifungal remedy, you should see a distinct improvement. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles.
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Recent Blog Articles. Why is topical vitamin C important for skin health? Preventing preeclampsia may be as simple as taking an aspirin. Even once the fungus is successfully eradicated, there may be long-term effects on the appearance of the nail. When you go to your doctor, marking a line on the nail with a scalpel blade at the base of where the fungus starts is helpful for treatment follow-up. The patient can follow the marking as the nail grows out.
If the newly grown-out nail is growing out discoloured, further treatment is required. Onychomycosis patients may need to learn new, healthier habits to stop the fungus growing back. These could include protecting toes from sources of infection, wearing correctly fitting footwear, laundering socks in hot water with disinfectant, wearing protective footwear at the pool and gym, keeping nails short, using open-toed footwear and wearing shoes made of breathable material.
Kavya E. Baby, Medical Registrar basic physician trainee at Canberra hospital, contributed to this article. Portsmouth Climate Festival — Portsmouth, Portsmouth. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom.
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