Getting Rid of Toenail Fungus

With the holidays just ending few of us are thinking about summer. However, if your thinking about those embarrassing fungal toenails and the pool or beach-well now is the time to get to work getting rid of those fungal nails. 

One of the first questions patients usually ask me is "how did I get this". Well, first of all, you most likely did not do anything wrong. Fungus is part of our holobiome. This is just a really fancy word for the bacteria, fungus and viruses' that live on each of us. I have mine and you have yours. So as far as you being contagious-how are you going to give someone something that they already have. This simple fact accounts for why fungus is so difficult to treat. 

You can never get rid of all the fungus on your body. No more than you can get rid of all the bacteria on your body. It does not matter how many times a day you take a bath. So first let's get an understanding of what type of environment fungus flourishes in. Fungus does very well where it is hot, humid and dark. Where would this be? How about the inside of everyone's shoes? What's the most common type of fungus we all know about? Most likely the mushroom. Mushrooms, of course, are not grown on blacktop parking lots in the desert. 

So how does fungus get from your skin into your nails? This happens when a layer skin known as the Hyponicium is broken or breached. The Hyponicium is that layer of skin that attaches your nails to your toes and fingers. Once it is broken the fungus which is already on us can eat its way into the nail. Like all living organisms it takes the path of least resistance and eats its way forward depositing its waste products behind it. This causes the delamination or thickening of the nails that we see clinically. 

What is the key to treating fungal infections of the nails? In order to treat fungal infections successfully, we need to create an environment that is as non-friendly for fungus as possible. This includes how we treat our shoes, our socks and yes our skin. Let's say you have Tinea Pedis(another fancy word that just means athlete's foot) and you don't treat that but instead focus all your attention on the nails. Well, you may get the nails clear but as soon as you stop treating the nails the fungus from the skin will get right back into the nails and the whole cycle starts again. The same is true if you treat the skin and not the nails. 

The take-home message here is that successfully treating fungal infections of the nails and skin is going to require a lot of effort and yes time. It can be done just understand that it is a process with many steps and you must complete each step if you want to successfully treat the issue. 

If you are having an issue with fungal infections to the nails or skin please come see us at any of our two locations. Let's make this the summer you wear sandals all day every day.