Treating Fungal Nail Infections

Fungal nail infection (onychomycosis) is a common problem, but one that isn't usually regarded as significant by the NHS and so you are often left to suffer with this and treat it on your own. However, fungal nail infections are more than just a cosmetic problem and one infected nail can infect your other healthy nails. The problem with treatment is that it can take several months and you need to keep up the treatment regularly until it is fully cleared or it can just grow back into the rest of the nail.You can treat fungal nail infections yourself with products you can buy from your pharmacy, or you can use complementary remedies which work for many people.

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Related Products : Foot Care : Athlete's Foot :
Related Information : Treating Fungal Nail Infections ::

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What Causes Fungal Nail Infections?

Fungal nail infections can be caused by other fungal skin infections spreading to the nails if they are not properly treated, such as athlete's foot . You become more susceptible to having infections if your health is poor, such as having a poor immune system , diabetes , poor circulation, or if you smoke . You are also more likely to have a fungal infection if you have your hands in water a lot, e.g. if you are a cook or cleaner, or if you live or work in a hot or humid climate. A nail that has been damaged is also more likely to become infected.

About 3 in 100 people in the UK will have a fungal nail infection at some time in their life.  It is more common on toenails than fingernails, and more common in older people or younger people who share communal showers, such as athletes and swimmers.

It often starts in just one nail, and is usually painless and not a problem.  The nail can look thickened, discoloured and become unsightly. Sometimes the infection can spread to other nails or become worse, and the nail can become soft and crumble so that bits of it can fall off, and in severe cases the nail area can become inflamed and painful and the whole nail can be lost.

Other nail conditions can look like fungal nail infections and so it would be best to see your doctor, who may send nail clippings off to the lab for a proper diagnosis. However, many doctors are reluctant to treat these infections as the medicines available on the NHS are expensive and the stronger ones taken by mouth may need to be monitored carefully. However, once you have a diagnosis you know exactly what you are dealing with and can treat this yourself. However, in severe cases treatment on prescription by your doctor may be the only answer.

How To Treat Fungal Nail Infections

Fungal nail infections can be treated with products that you can but from a pharmacy, such as:

Curanail 5% Nail Lacquer (3ml) [P]

Curanail 5% Nail Lacquer contains an antifungal used to effectively treat fungal infections affecting up to 2 nails and affecting the upper half or sides of the nail

Quantity:  More Info

Our Price: £18.99

ClearZal Nail Solution (30ml)

ClearZal Nail Solution is a clinically tested topical antimicrobial solution containing aloe that kills 99.9% of the microbes which can cause nail infections

Quantity:  More Info

Our Price: £17.94

It is most important to continue the treatment for long enough, and this will often be for several months. Many people fail to clear the fungus because they stop the treatment too early. What you are looking for is new uninfected nail growing at the base of the nail. This will grow out from the nail bed and it can take six months for a fingernail to grow completely and twelve months for a toenail. Sometimes the nail will remain distorted even after the infection has cleared.

There are also complementary remedies to treat fungal nail infections, such as:

Nail That Fungus Forever This eBook explains how someone cured his long standing fungal nail infection using simple homemade remedies, and how this same method has been used by thousands of other people with great success. eBook from another web site

Complementary remedies aren't as well documented as medical treatments, but many people have confidence that they can work. It would be sensible to continue such treatments for long enough to clear the infection, and to progress to treatments available from the pharmacy, and then on prescription if the nail infection continues or spreads.

Teat Tree Oli is often recommended as a treatment, and some published reports show that it can be effective. However tea tree oil can be irritating to the skin for some people, so stop using it if irritation happens. Applying the pure oil generously twice a day with a cotton bud is the generally recommended way of using this, making sure you treat under the tip of the nail and also apply some to the surrounding skin. Be careful as, being an oil, it can discolour leather shoes.

Whatever treatment you use here are some tips to help to clear fungal nail infections:

• Keep your nails short and file down areas of thickened nail
• Keep nail scissors and nail files separate for use on infected nails only as they can spread infection to other people or other nails
• Treat other fungal infections promptly and completely such as athlete's foot
• Consider replacing old footwear which may contain fungal spores which could reinfect
• Don't walk barefoot in bathrooms, bedrooms, showers and locker rooms. Wear flip-flops to prevent infecting others
• Keep your feet cool and dry as much as possible as fungal infections thrive in warm moist conditions