Nail infections are very common to people which are usually caused by the growth of fungi. Tinea Unguium or Onychomycosis is a type of fungal infection that affects the fingernails and the toenails. This type of infection can be caused by the fungi already existing in a person’s body or enter into the person’s body due to different weather conditions.
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What Are The Causes And How It Can Be Treated?
Generally, the fungi which cause this kind of infection in the nail are able to overpopulate during moist and damp weather conditions. The increased amount of humidity in the air allows the fungi to grow at a fast rate and affect the fingernails or the toenails of a person. These infections cause the nail to become, deformed, brittle, and in some cases discolored.
What causes nail infections?
Nail infections are very common with almost ten million cases per year. There are no particular causes of nail infections to occur but there are some conditions that can be identified to cause ail infections:
- Problems in blood circulation can be a condition which allows the fungal infections in a person’s body
- Any major or minor injury affecting the nail or and kind of surgery around the nail can cause fungal infections.
- A weak immune system often invites all kinds of fungal and bacterial infections including nail infections.
- Diabetes can be a cause of fungal infections particularly infected nails.
Any kind of nail injury which includes any cracks or cuts around the nails allows the fungi to enter and populated in that area and cause nail infection. Nail infections are not usually painful when at an early stage. However, at a severe stage, if left untreated and exposed to dirt, the nail infection can be very painful and discharges pus from the affected area. Nail infections are considered to spread through common sources like swimming pools or gyms. Many a time it is also caused by the instruments which are used on different people without proper sanitization.
Symptoms
Some of the common symptoms to detect Onychomycosis or other fungal nail infections are:
- It usually starts from the base of the nail and spreads to the tip. It also raises the nail from the nail bed.
- Nail affected by fungal infection become thick and brittle which makes it difficult to cut a part of the nail
- The color of the nail also changes to a darker or yellowish color.
- Nail infection creates a bad odor in the affected nail.
Treatment
A wide range of nail infections of which the most common being Onychomycosis have different kinds of treatments ranging from Ora antifungal medications, alternative therapies, and topical ointments. Some of the popular medications like Terbinafine (Lamisil), Itraconazole (Sporanox), Fluconazole(Diflucan), but these medications do not provide fast recovery. It can take up to 4 months for a nail to fully recover from the fungus. Though this kind of oral antifungal therapy serves a higher cure rate than the other treatments.
Surgery is another method of treatment for a nail fungal infection. Surgical treatment assures relief from the fungal infection for a short period of time by the removal of the nail. But this method does not assure the recurrence which is usually the case with fungal infections o this method is only suggested in severe cases where the infection is painful and discharging pus. To make this method effective in the long term, the application of topical ointment and oral antifungal mediations is necessary.
Another popular method of treating nail fungal infections is by trying out home remedies. It is often found that some ingredients which are usually present in the home are antifungal n nature and can provide relief or cure the fungal infection in nails. Some of the common remedies are:
- Vicks VapoRub – Vicks VapoRub is easily available in home and is a topical ointment which helps to cure fungus in toenail. Application of Vicks Vaporub is easy and cost-effective method.
- Vinegar – Vinegar is a safe remedy available at home to try out on an infected nail.
- Garlic– Garlic is one of the kitchen ingredients which is known to have antifungal properties. It can be applied on the affected nail to get relief from the pain and also cure the infections.
Though home remedies are safe to try out on the nail fungal infection, it takes time to cure the fungal infections using home remedies.
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