Why does fungus appear on nails? What are the signs of the disease? This disease destroys the nail plate and causes a lot of trouble. Our medical experts answered frequently asked questions and told us how to quickly cure it 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 infectious in nature, infection occurs from person to person, as well as through contact and household through objects of common use. A fungal infection attacks the nail plate and eats away at it, destroying the nail.
Toenail fungus most often occurs on the toenails, since the feet are more susceptible to negative influences. However, the onset of the development of pathology is preceded by a weakening of the immune system, leading to a decrease in the body's defenses, which does not allow the immune system to 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 fall into two broad categories:
- Pathogenic.
- Conditionally pathogenic.
Pathogenic microorganisms are microorganisms that penetrate from the outside and cause harm to human life. Conditionally pathogenic agents are those that normally live on the skin, mucous and keratinous areas of the human body, for example, fungi of the genus Candida.
Normally, the body coexists symbiotically with opportunistic pathogenic microorganisms. But 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?
Common causes of mycosis may include the following:
- weakened immune system;
- concomitant chronic diseases (for example, 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, in which the feet are subject to profuse sweating;
- old age (after 65 years, natural immunity decreases);
- working environment conditions (work in a humid environment, at elevated room temperatures, when there is radiation, dusty and dirty environments).
In such conditions, nail fungus develops on the hands and feet. It has been noted that the disease is also distributed by gender - men suffer almost 3 times more often than women.
How does the pathogen penetrate the nail plate?
The keratin plate itself is not vulnerable to penetration by mycotic pathogens. In order for an infection to begin to develop, its integrity must be compromised. There are three main ways that mycotic organisms enter:
- 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 fragility appear, but thickening and subungual hyperkeratosis do not occur.
- Hypertrophic type. It appears when there was no treatment or it was incorrectly selected and ineffective. First of all, the phenomenon of subungual hyperkeratosis occurs, leading to thickening, which 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, changes its color to a dark grayish-brown, over time its growth is disrupted and complete separation from the nail bed occurs.
Finding out the type of disease will allow you to 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 makes its appearance look painful;
- change in color of the plate to yellow, brown and brown, which darkens over time to black;
- the cuticle and proximal ridge become inflamed;
- the plate thickens and becomes fragile, brittle, crumbly;
- a characteristic specific smell appears;
- Over time, the nail plate completely peels off.
How to diagnose the disease?
Changes in color, roughness and chipping can help to suspect onychomycosis. However, similar symptoms are also characteristic of many other diseases (for example, eczema, psoriasis, lichen planus). Therefore, one examination by a doctor is not enough.
With this problem you need to contact a dermatologist, podologist or mycologist. If it is difficult to differentiate the cause of the disease, 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, there is a need to verify the mycotic origin of the infection. To do this, a microscopic examination of the keratin thickening is performed. However, to determine the type of pathogen, it is necessary to do a bacterial culture for analysis.
How to cure nail fungus?
Treatment is a long process, taking from several months to a year and requiring significant effort from the patient.
Antifungal therapy depends on the route of exposure to the affected area and may be:
- local - the use of only local ointments and creams that affect the pathogen at the site of the lesion;
- systemic - the use of oral antifungal drugs of 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, which gives the best result.
As the most effective remedy for nail fungus, systemic preparations containing the following substances are used:
- substance ketoconazole— the effectiveness of treatment with this remedy is achieved in half of the cases, the approximate course is from 8 to 12 months;
- substance itraconazoleis a popular antifungal drug that is effective in 85% of cases. Its clear advantage is the short course of treatment - only 10 days;
- substance terbinafine hydrochloride- one of the best remedies that helps in 90% of cases. The course of treatment lasts up to 4 months for onychomycosis on the hands and from 6 months on the feet. However, the appearance altered by mycosis can persist for a long time - up to 50 weeks.
Systemic therapy is used in cases of moderate severity or more. Usually, oral antimycotics 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 treated only in mild cases - when only ⅓ of the nail plate is changed and when there is no deep penetration of the pathogen into the keratin tissue. This is due to the fact that local products are not able to penetrate deep into the keratin layer.
In mild cases, when treatment was started in a timely manner, systemic agents can be dispensed with. However, with an advanced clinical picture, sometimes it is necessary to surgically get rid of the damaged area, and only after that local therapy is carried out. Removal is painless and with subsequent antifungal treatment leads to complete recovery.