Manifestation of mycosis on the legs is a common occurrence. In most cases, mycosis of the toenail or toenail does not bring any life-threatening consequences, but it does cause a lot of discomfort.
Onychomycosis occurs in 25% of the world's population.
Often colonies of trichophyton cause fungus on the feet, fungus on the feet may not be visible at first, but soon the symptoms are felt. Often the foot is affected by several pathogens, including mold and yeast.
As a result of the activity of fungi in the body, toxins accumulate, disrupting metabolism, reducing immunity.
Under favorable conditions, the fungus affects not only the toenails, her toenails will not be enough, and it will spread to the feet, can enter the bloodstream in the presence of wounds and affect various organs.
The fungus can start with an infection in scratches and cuts, cracks on the skin of the feet. Sweating feet, neglecting hygiene, wearing tight shoes - for example, as in most cases, nail fungus begins. However, if you follow preventive measures and treat onychomycosis of the nails in time, you cannot remember the unpleasant disease.
Where you can pick up the fungus
The appearance of fungi is associated not only with reduced immunity. Of course, a lot depends on the body's defenses, but there are other reasons for the appearance of fungi that must be taken into account.
First of all, mycosis on the nails can get a sick person. In about 30% of patients, toenail mycosis is the result of a relative infection. In everyday life, the skin of a sick person falls on carpets, towels, slippers and other household items.
If a person’s bare skin comes in contact with surfaces, discomfort, itching, and other signs of a fungal infection will begin to appear.
Determining the causes of fungus on the nails, the reasons can be determined in the bath, sauna and swimming pool. High humidity from time to time increases the possibility of infection and almost every visitor to the above public institutions can discover what a nail fungus is on the nails.
Slow fungi are resistant to extreme temperatures and remain long-lasting. For the purpose of prevention, every person should know what the fungus comes from and take measures to avoid becoming infected.
The fungus usually enters the body through wounds and cracks in the skin. If there are no wounds, then the fungal infection can manifest as peeling feet and itching. If these and the signs below have started to bother you, you need to look for a doctor who will tell you how to beat the fungus quickly and cheaply.
Symptoms of fungus
The first signs of fungus on the toenails are a dull color of the plate, perhaps a feeling of dry feet, peeling skin. Later, symptoms of toenail fungus will appear, such as thickening of the plaque, its fragility, and discoloration.
The doctor who is the doctor will prescribe the diagnosis - take a scraping of the skin and nails and send it to the laboratory. There experts know how to determine nail fungus and their sensitivity to drugs. Based on the results, your doctor will tell you how to get rid of the discomfort and how to start treatment for onychomycosis of the toenails.
Those who have been ill once already know roughly how to diagnose nail fungus, and in case of recurrence they go to the doctor immediately. If you do not start treatment on time, toenail fungus can go from acute to chronic form, bother with relapses in the warm season, worsening of chronic diseases, etc.
Often the fungus of the picture is accompanied by mycosis of the skin, then the appearance of crying ulcers, blisters with pus is likely. If a quick nail treatment is unsuccessful, the spores are embedded deeper into the nail plate.
It is filled with yellow spots, the nail crumbles, the affected areas emit an unpleasant odor. You often need to remove the nail to get to the focus of the disease. In this case, the fungus can be removed after removing the plate (laser, chemical or mechanical). An adequate fungal treatment regimen includes a range of medications, including hygienic procedures and nutrition.
The specialist will assess the symptoms and prescribe treatment on an individual basis, because not all medications are universal, not everyone can take them all. In the initial stages, creams are usually prescribed that remove the symptoms and the fungus itself from the nail.
If several nails are affected, the disease has spread to the skin, the doctor will begin serious treatment of nail fungus and control all stages. The addition of a bacterial infection can complicate the situation. In that case, it will be necessary to decide not only how to remove the fungus under the nails, but also to effectively treat eczema, psoriasis, etc.
Types of fungus on the nails
The vesicular type begins with the plantar part of the foot. During the disease there is swelling, scattering of bubbles with fluid. Later, the fungus can develop on the toenail of the sore toe, and if the toenail fungus is not recognized in time, the disease will go more, spreading to other parts of the body. The vesicular type is characterized by the addition of a bacterial infection.
The type of membrane starts between the 4th and 5th fingers, in the folds of the skin. Until the nail fungus manifests itself, it strongly affects the skin - scales, cracks, ulcers appear.
The moccasin-like type starts with the sole, heel. Symptoms of this type of fungus on the nails begin to appear after the disease damages the skin. Cracks, peeling skin, painful sensations will appear.
In all three variants of the disease, over time, a fungus can appear under the toenail, causing it to thicken, break, and often lose. Your doctor knows how to recognize nail fungus early, so don’t diagnose it yourself. The main thing is to find a good expert who will tell you how to quickly get rid of nail fungus.
How to treat fungus
To get rid of toenail fungus and not to "get into the tube", you must use the medication prescribed by your doctor in a certain dose and exactly as much as your doctor prescribes. Otherwise, the recently removed fungus will come back with new strength.
Complex treatment, including the method of pulse therapy, is popular nowadays. This means actively fighting fungus on the toenails with large doses of antifungal drugs.
Long breaks are made between courses of therapy. To remove the fungus under the toenail, treatment should include the use of varnishes, films, ointments. They are based on fungicidal preparations, which unfortunately do not always work.
To successfully treat toenail fungus, you need to determine the type of pathogen, skin type, and severity of the disease. This is the only way to exterminate nail fungus, spores of nail fungus should not get any chance.
The doctor will tell you how to treat onychomycosis on dry skin, how to properly prepare for the procedures. For example, an oily cream is perfect for dry skin, ointments are chosen to treat soles, suspensions are applied between the toes, and nail polish is applied to the nails. You don’t have to think about how to remove the fungus yourself. The doctor will take care of this.
When toenail mycosis is diagnosed, treatment often involves removing the nail. This is necessary because the nail prevents the medicine from affecting the fungus below. The doctor at the reception will explain to you how to properly treat toenails with local remedies and tablets.
Only external drugs can be used only at the beginning of the disease and when the use of systemic drugs is prohibited. How do you know if systemic medications are inappropriate? Your doctor will tell you about it. The tablets are not specifically prescribed for pregnant women, children, people with kidney and liver pathologies. For them, special instructions have been compiled on how to get rid of nail fungus. Therapy is likely to be long-term.
External preparations are used twice a day, after 2 weeks the ointment is changed with another preparation so that the fungi do not develop resistance. In order for a new nail to grow back healthy, the treatment period for toenail fungus will take about a year. If the disease has affected only the foot or interdigital spaces, there is enough fat for a month.
Systemic medications are prescribed for severe nail damage. Such treatment of toenail mycosis will be very effective, but medical supervision is required due to drug toxicity.
Systemic drugs act on the stomach, kidneys and liver. Before starting therapy, removal of toenail with fungus can be prescribed in an appropriate manner. Your doctor will tell you how to remove toenail fungus with the least injury and get back to work faster.
Get rid of fungus folk remedies
By the time you fight fungus on toenails through folk remedies, you should consult with your doctor about their safety and suitability for use in a particular case.
The fact is that the recipes generally describe how to get rid of nail fungus, but do not take into account the individual characteristics of the organism, the age of the patient, the accompanying ailments and contraindications.
Only a doctor can tell the patient how to treat toenail fungus with pharmacy drugs and improvised means, medicinal herbs. The following are popular guidelines for those looking for how to treat toenail fungus.
Washing powder, according to reviews, helps due to the content of alkalis that are harmful to fungi. To treat toenail fungus in this way, it is necessary to take 100 g of powder, dissolve in a bowl of hot water and steam the nails for 15 minutes. Reviews say it is possible to cure a mild stage of the disease in 10 days.
Another recipe recommends treatment with hydrogen peroxide when diagnosing toenail fungus. First you have to steam your feet in baking soda (1 liter of heated water = 1 tablespoon of baking soda). As soon as the toenails steam, you can soak a cotton swab in peroxide and apply to the affected areas.
To prevent the peroxide from evaporating, you can wrap the wrap over it with cling film. The duration of the procedure is about an hour, you have to repeat it 2 times a day. The course of therapy lasts taking into account the depth of the nail plate lesion.
Garlic is a plant rich in phytoncides. It can be dipped in salt and rubbed on the affected area. It is also useful to apply the paste in the form of a coating. It is important that there are no wounds or cracks on the skin, otherwise the garlic causes pain and the wound will not heal.
Ammonia is used as a coating, but not pure, but diluted with water. As soon as the symptoms of the fungus begin to appear, 1 tbsp. the ammonia is stirred in a glass of water. The clean bandage is then dipped into the solution and applied overnight to the affected areas in the form of a dressing.
The fungus on the nails, defeated by the use of ordinary soda, is mentioned many times in the reviews. Soda creates an environment unfavorable for fungi. The powder is diluted with water to a paste, applied to the affected nails for 20 minutes, washed and dried. This is not only an effective therapy, but also an effective prevention of toenail fungus in the case of visits to swimming pools and saunas.
Boric acid is used after the feet are steamed in a soda bath. After water treatments, you need to dry your feet and nails well, sprinkle with boric acid powder, put on socks and leave overnight. The procedure is repeated during the week.
Prevention of onychomycosis
Your doctor will explain to you how to quickly cure toenail fungus and what to do to avoid contracting this nasty disease. First, you need to beware of walking barefoot in public places (saunas, fitness rooms, swimming pools) - wherever you need to wear rubber slippers.
If, however, an incident has occurred and you do not want to learn from your own experience what is the danger of toenail fungus, you should use prophylactic nail polish or take an antifungal shampoo when you return home.
Second, if the skin on the feet is damaged, the risk of infection increases significantly. Before rejuvenating your skin, you must cancel your trip to the pool, training, etc. If there has been contact with an area that could be infected, and after that the skin itches, you need to treat these areas immediately with fungal ointment.
Third, in order not to worry about whether the toenail fungus can be cured, it is important to choose shoes for the season, dry them and keep them clean. Other people should not wear your shoes.
You should not take shoes from someone, and when you try on shoes in the store, you must wear socks or stockings so as not to come into contact with the bare skin of the shoes. After buying the shoe, you have to disinfect it - put a cotton cloth dipped in tea tree oil inside, put it in an airtight bag for one day