Onychomycosis is an infectious disease caused by pathogenic fungi. The problem is relevant to many, as the disease is extremely common and highly contagious. Therefore, it will be helpful for everyone to learn how to get rid of nail fungus. Let's see what drugs can be used in the treatment process and how traditional medicine can help.
Most often, a fungal infection of the nails develops in old age. However, the disease can very well develop in a young and strong person. Less commonly, onychomycosis occurs in children. Everyone is at risk of getting an infection, so the question of how to get rid of nail fungus is relevant for everyone.
Symptoms
To start treatment on time, you need to know how it manifests itself. The insidious nature of this disease is that it develops gradually. At first, when you can get rid of nail fungus quickly, most people just don't pay attention to the first signs.
<1_img_centerxx>Indeed, few people will be alarmed if a stain appears at the corner of the nail. And only then, when the disease affects most of the nail and the plaque begins to collapse, people start treatment.
In the meantime, there is only one answer to the question of how to get rid of the fungus quickly - you need to start treatment as soon as possible. If the affected area is already more than a third of the surface of the nail plate, the treatment will take a long time.
So, the main sign of the disease is discoloration of the nail plate. Most often, such a change is noted in the corner of the nail of the big toe. Much less often, the stain appears on the inner edge of the nail or on the other toe.
Even less often the appearance of nail fungus is noted on the hands, most often women encounter this type of onychomycosis. The fact is that women often do manicures, and not too high-quality disinfection of the instrument and nail injuries are predisposing factors for the development of the disease.
Advice!Of course, a manicure in itself is not harmful, and it is not necessary to refuse this hygienic procedure. You only need to make sure that the master carefully sterilizes the instruments or use individual files and forceps.
If there is no treatment, the stain will start to grow. In addition, the structure of the nail will begin to change. The plate becomes thicker, cracks may appear on it, the plate will begin to collapse.
Often onychomycosis occurs simultaneously with mycosis of the skin of the feet. In this case, the skin of the affected areas turns red, becomes inflamed, and painful cracks appear on it. The disease is accompanied by the appearance of an unpleasant odor from the feet.
At this stage, it is impossible not to notice the manifestations of the disease, so it is at this late stage that most patients go to the doctor or begin to try to cure themselves.
Advice!Self-medication for fungal nail diseases is very dangerous, since the patient himself can not determine the type of pathogen. Therefore, the measures taken by him may prove ineffective.
If there is no treatment or if it is ineffective, the disease will progress. The nail plate will start to peel off. At this stage, a bacterial infection often joins, causing the development of a purulent process. If the disease is severely triggered, it will be advisable to completely remove the diseased nail. Therefore, it is better not to bring the problem to the operation, but to start treatment in a timely manner.
Basic principles
It should be remembered that it is not easy to get rid of onychomycosis for good. This disease very often gives relapses. Especially if the patient has not completed treatment, interrupting the course as soon as the visible symptoms of the disease have passed.
To exclude the development of a relapse, you should continue treatment until laboratory tests confirm the absence of infection.
Advice!It is recommended to do control tests twice with an interval of two weeks. If both tests are negative, the disease is considered completely cured.
The main principles of the treatment of fungal diseases are:
- regularity;
- A complex approach.
Not a single one, even the most effective drug, will help from one go. The duration of treatment is determined individually, its duration is influenced by:
- the type of pathogen (mold forms a lesion on the surface of the nail, so this type of onychomycosis is easier to cure than a disease caused by yeasts or dermatophytes);
- the degree of damage, at the initial stage, treatment can last from 3 to 5 weeks, but if onychomycosis actively progresses, it will take several months, or even more than a year, to be treated;
- the patient's state of health, many effective antifungal drugs have an impressive list of contraindications, so you need to use less effective, but safer, means.
In addition, you should remember that no drug, even the most modern and effective, will help if the patient does not adhere to the following rules:
- Good hygiene is important. You will need to disinfect all of your shoes, and it's best to replace socks and slippers with new ones. You will need to regularly disinfect the tub, as well as the manicure tools used to treat diseased nails.
Advice!It is convenient to use special sprays to disinfect shoes, but you can also use home remedies. For example, vinegar.
- Follow your diet. It is necessary to minimize the amount of sugar in the diet, to abandon alcohol and very fatty foods. But fermented dairy products, grains and vegetables, on the contrary, will be useful.
- Try to live a healthy life. Observe the mode of work and rest, be outdoors, make sure you get enough sleep, try to avoid stress. All of these measures will help support the immune system.
- Choose the right shoes. Avoid tight models, choose shoes and boots made of breathable materials. Now there are even artificial materials that can provide normal air exchange, for example, eco-leather has such properties.
Pharmacy products
There are many drugs available to combat fungal diseases. They differ in the form of release and the active ingredient. It is impossible to recommend a remedy that will help everyone, without exception. A doctor should prescribe treatment for nail fungus. Most often, the following scheme is recommended:
- Application of topical agents. More often, antifungal drugs are prescribed in the form of a solution or varnish, less often the use of creams is recommended;
- Take systemic drugs, that is, capsules or tablets. The need to use tablets is determined by the doctor. As a rule, they are prescribed at an advanced stage or in the event of failure of a local remedy;
- take multivitamin complexes and general strengthening of the body.
Topical agents
To cure nail fungus, it is necessary to use drugs that are applied directly to the diseased nail. The doctor must prescribe drugs, the patient's task is to use them correctly.
First of all, you need to prepare your nail. The nail plate, unlike the skin, absorbs medicinal substances less well, so onychomycosis is more difficult to treat than skin yeast infection. The preparation of the nail is as follows:
- you should make the nail softer by using a hot bath. Soda, vinegar, sea salt, decoctions of herbs are added to the water (of course, you need to add a remedy, and not all at once);
- the duration of the bath is about 20 minutes, during which time the nails will have time to soften sufficiently;
- after that, you need to treat the nails: cut them as short as possible, process them with a file, removing the loose and exfoliating layers in the affected areas.
After such treatment, the use of topical agents will be more beneficial. Their active substances will be able to penetrate deeper, directly to the focus of the fungal infection.
Local agents are applied 1-2 times a day. The solution is applied using a dropper (as a rule, a vial is equipped with it) or a pipette. You should drip not on the horizontal surface of the nail, but on its outer edge.
Creams are applied to the entire surface of the plate, lightly rubbed. Healing varnishes are one of the most practical remedies for the treatment of onychomycosis. They don't need to be applied daily, but twice a week. However, this remedy only helps in the early stages of the disease.
Advice!Women especially like to use medicinal varnishes, since it is permissible to apply decorative varnish to the layer of medicinal coating.
Additional measures
To speed up the healing process, in the process of removing nail fungus, it is recommended to perform a hardware pedicure (manicure) or use laser treatment. During the procedure, the affected part of the nail is carefully removed.
During a physical pedicure, the removal is carried out mechanically, that is, the nail is cut with special knives. After the treatment is completed, a medicinal antifungal agent is applied to the surface. The laser procedure allows you not only to remove the affected part of the nail, but also to perform treatment, since the laser beam is able to kill the fungus.
Home methods
Some people are quite successful in getting rid of a fungal infection using simple, inexpensive remedies to treat the disease. Here is a description of the most effective means.
The vinegar
It is one of the most effective remedies and can be used in combination with medication. The essence of the method is that the acidic environment has a detrimental effect on the fungi.
The easiest processing option is to add vinegar to the trays. For two liters of lukewarm water, take a glass of vinegar (9%). It is recommended to do such a bath every night before applying topical drugs. You can also make applications by applying cotton wool soaked in vinegar to the sore nails for a quarter of an hour.
Garlic
The most common garlic effectively fights fungal diseases. You can simply lubricate the sore spots with fresh juice or make compresses. To perform the procedure, you need to prepare garlic oatmeal, place it between two layers of gauze and apply the resulting lotion to the affected area for an hour.
Celandine
Celandine juice effectively destroys fungal infections. The affected areas are smeared with fresh juice. In winter, for this purpose, you can use a tincture of celandine, and a decoction of this herb is suitable for baths.
So, only a specialist will be able to answer the question of how to get rid of the fungus on the nails after the tests. Treatment is prescribed taking into account the type of pathogen. It is better to use a set of remedies, you can combine the use of drugs and home remedies.