Treatment of nail fungus takes at least six months, and this is subject to correctly prescribed therapy. Many people, especially on the eve of the summer, are concerned about the question: how quickly will nails return to their previous healthy appearance? What will they look like immediately after starting treatment? And in a month or two?
In addition, whether the treatment is effective or not can also be determined by the appearance of the nails. Let's look at what you need to pay attention to in the appearance of your nails after fungus treatment.
Why is nail fungus difficult to treat?
Onychomycosis (fungal infection of the nail plate) is very difficult to treat in all people. There are three reasons for this:
The microbe gets into the nail bed and not all local drugs can reach it. Moreover, most fungi provide themselves with "protection" in the form of thickening the nail plate.
In most cases, onychomycosis is accompanied by a fungal infection of the foot. And as soon as a person cures his nails, the fungus again enters the nail bed from the skin of the foot.
Re-infection also occurs through one’s own socks, shoes, and also when bathing in a bath/shower.
Classic types of treatment for onychomycosis
Currently, medicine uses three main approaches to treating nail fungus:
Systemic drugs in the form of tablets or capsules. They can help, but for this they need to be taken over a long course - from 4 to 18 months. All these medications are toxic to the liver; taking them can be complicated by the development of diarrhea, skin rashes, and changes in taste. Therefore, during treatment you need to strictly follow a therapeutic diet, stop drinking alcohol and periodically take blood tests - "liver tests".
Local remedies (creams, varnishes). They do not always penetrate the nail plate well. Therefore, it must be prepared in advance: cut off the overgrown masses of the nail with clippers or remove it using a cutter. You cannot do this on your own: you can damage the cells that give rise to the nail plate.
Combination therapy: simultaneous administration of a systemic drug and application of a local antifungal agent to the affected nail. It is used in severe cases to slightly minimize the severity of side effects from systemic drugs. The effectiveness of such treatment is also not very high.
In some cases, dermatologists remove the affected nail plate before prescribing topical treatment. Now they are trying to do this less and less, limiting themselves only to filing off the affected area - in order to avoid infection of the nail bed with bacteria.
It would seem that onychomycosis can be left untreated, but in fact it represents something more than an aesthetic defect. It can lead to a severe mixed (fungal and bacterial) infection of the foot or hand, which can even lead to gangrene.
What do nails look like after treating fungus?
In the first 2-3 months from the start of using local drugs, the nail plate will not yet change noticeably. The fungi remaining in the subungual space continue to multiply, and thickening or, conversely, thinning again forms on the nail. The growing plate retains its pathological color for some time: yellow, milky white, black or brown. It may still be scaly, ribbed or curved. There may be chips on it, or an area where it moves away from its bed.
When treated with tablets, pathological changes in the growing nail plate can be observed for 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;
- change color to pinkish or reddish, uniform in color;
- acquire normal thickness.
If the nail grows back after removing the entire nail plate, it has the right to be a little thinner. This is also an indicator of his health.
If, despite treatment, after 2-3 months the nails remain altered in color, thickness or smoothness, then the therapy must be reviewed.
How quickly the whole nail will become healthy
It depends on the growth rate of the nail plates. It is influenced by:
- age: the younger the person, the greater the speed;
- nature of nutrition: insufficient intake of vitamins and microelements reduces the rate of nail growth;
- Ambient temperature: in warm climates, nails grow faster;
- frequency of nail injuries: they slow down plate growth;
- hormonal status: for example, during pregnancy, the growth rate of the plate increases;
- the presence of common chronic diseases: they make nail growth slower;
- taking medications that affect the rate of cell division.
On average, a healthy nail after treating fungus on the hands grows in 6 months, on the feet in 12-18 months. The nails on the thumbs and toes grow slower than others. So, if the nail plates on the 2-5 fingers of the lower extremities grow at a speed of 1 mm/month, then on the first finger this speed is up to 0. 7 mm/month.
How can you speed up the treatment of onychomycosis?
To make nails grow back faster after fungus treatment, laser therapy can be used. It involves treating the nail plate with a neodymium laser device with a wavelength of 1064 nm. Its radiation freely penetrates the nail bed and there heats the fungal cells to high temperatures, as a result of which they die. In addition, the heat from the laser activates blood circulation in the nail bed, which accelerates the growth of a healthy nail plate.
Laser is used in conjunction with local therapy. After a laser treatment session, the patient should apply the recommended cream or varnish to the nails, and also carefully treat the shoes with an antiseptic to avoid re-infection.
The effectiveness of treating onychomycosis with a neodymium laser has been tested in several foreign multicenter studies. This is an excellent addition to local treatment, has a short procedure duration and is not accompanied by side effects.
Thus, a healthy nail plate should begin to grow in the first months from the start of treatment. It may be slightly thinner than usual, but have a uniform pinkish color and smoothness. The treatment process is significantly accelerated when the affected plates are treated with a neodymium laser.