Fungal Toenails

What does this mean?

Fungal Toenail.

A fungus is a micro-organism a bit like a bacteria but from a different family. Fungus causes thrush on mucous membranes, tinea / athlete s foot on the skin and can also infect fingernails and toenails. The nail will become discoloured and lose its solid nature, becoming crumbly and dead looking. Actually, all nails are in fact already dead. The only living part of a nail is below the skin at the base. This is important because it means that nails don t have any potential to fight off an infection. Your nail s only protection from being infected by fungal spores, which are everywhere – all the time, is the shiny surface of the nail. With this intact, the spores can t settle in and grow but just slide off. Think of it like a concrete driveway no cracks means no weeds. If cracks occur, no matter how clean you keep the environment, weeds will grow.

Fungal nails need not be painful – because the nail is dead, it has no feeling. If
the nail is painful, it s almost certain to be a growth under the nail called
onychophosis. This can be easily and painlessly removed by the podiatrist. How does it happen? Fungus gets in when the nail is damaged. Perhaps the nail was scuffed up by a
close fitting shoe, gouged while you were using a nail tool or damaged by any kind of trauma. Leaving nail polish on for extended periods paints the fungus into place. Be particularly wary about communal nail polish pots and pedicure salons. Only an autoclave will kill fungal spores and they cost up to $10 000. Consider whether the local pedicurist has invested in one of these and whether the customer before you may have wanted their nails painted to hide an ugly fungus.

What can be done?
If you have a fungal nail, you have millions of fungi reproducing and spreading the infection through the nail. It won’t spread to other nails unless they too are damaged or you use the same implements on a good toe after the infected nail. The podiatrist will remove the affected nail to lessen this effect. This is painless because the affected nail is no longer attached to the nail bed and this skin under the old nail will be thickened with debris that the infection has produced. This plaque needs to be removed regularly during treatment as the regrowing, healthy nail can t stick to it and an unattached nail will be sure to be reinfected. The podiatrist will prescribe a paint for the nail that stops the reproduction. A
medication in tablet form is available through your GP that is very effective, although it can be harsh on the liver. Consideration is needed if you have known liver problems, drink or have drunk significant quantities of alcohol or take other drugs that rely on the liver to metabolise them.