Wednesday 23 January 2019

The Best Toenail Fungal Treatments

Toenail fungal infection also known as Onychomicosis is a condition wherein the toenail becomes brittle, hard, discolored, disfigured, smelly and sometimes painful. Though the symptoms might be visibly obvious, it is often hard to diagnose this infection in the early stage without checking under the microscope since the nails do not develop symptoms right away. This means that even a healthy looking toenail might already be infected by the fungus or in other cases yeast or molds.

How is it acquired?
This infection is easily acquired through direct contact, frequent exposure to the moist environment such as public locker rooms and pools, and sometimes a person is highly vulnerable in acquiring the infection because of a weak immune system. Sadly, this condition is not easily treated compared to how it is acquired. The fungus does not go away on its own and if left untreated, it could lead to the total removal of the affected nail or might possibly infect other toenails.

What are the Treatments?
There are actually many types of toenail fungal treatments in Bristol that your doctor can suggest depending on the severity of the infection and on your overall health.

  • Home Remedies:- Though this type of treatment is not recommended by physicians, they are generally the first options that patient usually prefers for treating their toenail infections. These include the use of different essentials oils such as tea tree oil and sunflower oil or even the use of vapor rubs or mouthwash to kill off the fungus causing the infection. 
  • Oral medications:- The use of oral medication has been a common practice to treat toenail fungus but it is not recommended for everyone because of the risk of possible side effects. They are often taken regularly in a period of two to three months but it usually stays longer in the body which might have a negative effect on the patient’s liver, which is why constant monitoring is needed.
  • Topical:- For patients that are not up for oral medications, topical such as anti-fungal creams and gels are recommended. However, this treatment might take longer than any other alternative since the medicine does not easily penetrate to the nail. Frequent and ample application is often needed for it to work.
  • Laser treatment:- Laser treatment is one of the most recent kinds of alternative offered to patients that are looking for a less painful and effective way to treat their toenail fungal infection. Unlike topical, it can effectively penetrate to the nails and kill off the fungus in the area without causing any damage to the nail and the surrounding skin. 
  • Surgery:- If the condition is already serious and no other treatments can possibly remove the infection, a medical surgery is often required to remove the part of the nail that is infected or removes the toenail entire if the whole part is already damaged.

No comments:

Post a Comment