The manifestation of mycosis in the legs is frequent. In most cases, toenail or toenail mycosis does not bring life-threatening consequences, but it does cause a lot of inconvenience.
Onychomycosis occurs in 25% of the world's inhabitants.
Often trichophyton colonies cause leg fungus, the leg fungus may not be visible at first, but symptoms soon make themselves felt. The foot is often affected by various pathogens, including molds and yeasts.
As a result of the activity of fungi in the body, toxins accumulate, disrupting metabolism and reducing immunity.
Under favorable conditions, the fungus affects not only the toenails, the toenails will not be enough for it and it will spread to the feet, it can enter the bloodstream in the presence of wounds and affect various organs.
The fungus can start with an infection in abrasions and cuts, cracks in the skin of the legs. Sweating your feet, neglecting hygiene, wearing tight shoes, for example, how toenail fungus starts in most cases. However, if you follow preventive measures and treat nail onychomycosis in time, you will not be able to remember the unpleasant disease.
Where can you collect the mushroom?
The appearance of the fungus 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 the fungus that must be taken into account.
First of all, fungal infection can catch the nails of a sick person. In about 30% of patients, toenail mycosis is due to an infection in a relative. In everyday life, the scales from the skin of a sick person fall on carpets, towels, slippers and other household items.
If a person's bare skin comes into contact with surfaces, discomfort, itching, and other signs of a yeast infection will begin to appear.
By establishing why toenail fungus occurs, the reasons can be determined in the bathroom, sauna, and pool. High humidity increases the chance of infection at times and almost every visitor to the above-mentioned public institutions can find out what toenail fungus is.
The spores of the fungus are resistant to extreme temperatures and remain viable for a long time. For the purposes of prevention, each person must know what the fungus is and take steps to avoid infection.
The fungus usually enters the body through wounds and cracks in the skin. If there are no wounds, the fungal infection can manifest as peeling of the feet and itching. If these and the signs listed below began to bother you, you should consult a doctor who will tell you how to beat the fungus quickly and inexpensively.
Symptoms of fungi
The first signs of toenail fungus are the dull color of the plaque, perhaps a feeling of dry feet, peeling of the skin. Later, symptoms of toenail fungus will appear, such as thickening of the plaque, its brittleness and discoloration.
The attending physician will prescribe a diagnosis: scrape the skin and nails and send it to the laboratory. There, experts know how to determine nail fungus and its sensitivity to drugs. Based on the results, the doctor will tell you how to get rid of the discomfort and how to start the treatment of toenail onychomycosis.
Those who have been sick once already know roughly how to determine toenail fungus, and in the event of a relapse, they immediately go to the doctor. If you do not start treatment in time, the toenail mold fungus can go from an acute to a chronic form, bother with relapses in the warm season, with the exacerbation of chronic diseases, etc.
Often the fungus of the thumb nail is accompanied by mycosis of the skin, then the appearance of suppurating ulcers, blisters with pus is likely. If the quick nail treatment is unsuccessful, the spores become embedded deeper into the nail plate.
It is riddled with yellow spots, the nail crumbles, the affected areas exude an unpleasant smell. Often it is necessary 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). A proper treatment regimen for the fungus includes a set of remedies, including hygiene and nutrition procedures.
The specialist will evaluate the symptoms and prescribe the treatment individually, since not all drugs are universal, not everyone can take everything. In the initial stages, creams are usually prescribed that remove the symptoms and the fungus itself from the nail.
If multiple nails are affected, the disease has spread to the skin, the doctor will start serious drug treatment for nail fungus and monitor all stages. Adding a bacterial infection can complicate the situation. In this case, it will be necessary to decide not only how to remove the fungus under the nails, but also to take an effective treatment for eczema, psoriasis, etc.
Types of nail fungus
The vesicular type begins with the plantar part of the foot. With the course of the disease, swelling appears, a dispersion of bubbles with liquid. Later, a sore toenail fungus may develop, and if the toenail fungus is not recognized in time, the disease will increase and spread to other parts of the body. The vesicular type is characterized by the addition of a bacterial infection.
The membrane type begins between the 4th and 5th toes, in the folds of the skin. Until the toenail fungus manifests itself, it strongly affects the skin: scales, cracks and ulcerations appear.
The type of moccasin starts from the sole, the heel. Symptoms of this type of nail fungus begin to appear after the disease damages the skin. Cracks, peeling of the skin, painful sensations will appear.
In all three variants of the disease, over time, a fungus can appear under the toenail, causing its thickening, brittleness, and often loss. The doctor knows how to recognize nail fungus early, so do not diagnose yourself. The main thing is to find a good specialist who will tell you how to get rid of toenail fungus faster.
How are fungi treated?
To get rid of toenail fungus and not "fly into the pipe", you need to use the drugs prescribed by the doctor in a specific dose and exactly for the time prescribed by the doctor. Otherwise, the recently removed fungus will return with renewed vigor.
Today, complex treatment is popular, including the pulse therapy method. This involves an active fight against toenail fungus with bulky 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, and 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, the type of skin, and the severity of the disease. This is the only way to exterminate nail fungus, nail fungus spores shouldn't have a single chance.
The doctor will tell you how to treat onychomycosis on dry skin, how to properly prepare for procedures. For example, an oily cream is perfect for dry skin, ointments are chosen to treat the soles of the feet, suspensions are applied between the toes and varnish is applied to the nails. You don't need to think about how to get rid of the fungus yourself. The doctor will take care of this.
When toenail mycosis is diagnosed, treatment usually involves removing the nail. This is necessary because the nail prevents the medicine from affecting the fungus underneath. The doctor at the reception will explain how to properly treat a toenail with local medicines and pills.
External drugs alone can be used only at the onset of the disease and when it is prohibited to use systemic drugs. How do you know if systemic drugs are not suitable? The doctor will inform you about this. In particular, the pills are not prescribed for pregnant women, children, people with kidney or liver pathologies. For them, special instructions are drawn up on how to get rid of toenail fungus. The 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 fungus does not develop resistance. In order for a new nail to grow back healthily, the treatment period for toenail fungus will last approximately one year. If the disease has affected only the foot or the interdigital spaces, there are enough ointments for a month.
Systemic medications are prescribed for severe nail damage. Such treatment of toenail mycosis will be very effective, but medical supervision is necessary due to drug toxicity.
Systemic drugs act on the stomach, kidneys, and liver. Before starting therapy, extraction of the fungal toenail can be prescribed in a proper way. The doctor will tell you how to remove the toenail fungus with the least injury and get back to work faster.
Get rid of the fungus with home remedies.
So far on how to treat toenail fungus through home remedies, you should consult with your doctor about their safety and appropriate use in a particular case.
The fact is that the recipes generally describe how to get rid of the fungus on the nails, but do not take into account the individual characteristics of the organism, the age of the patient, concomitant 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 to treat toenail fungus.
Powdered detergent, judging by the reviews, helps due to the content of alkalis, which are harmful to the fungus. To treat toenail fungus in this way, you need to take 100 g of powder, dissolve in a bowl of hot water and steam the nails for 15 minutes. Reviews say that it is possible to cure the mild stage of the disease in 10 days.
Another recipe recommends hydrogen peroxide treatment when diagnosing a toenail fungus. First, you should steam your feet in a soda bath (1 liter of hot water = 1 tablespoon of baking soda). As soon as the toenails are steamed, you can soak a cotton swab in peroxide and apply it to the affected areas.
To prevent the peroxide from evaporating, you can wrap the compress in cling film over it. The duration of the procedure is about an hour, you need to repeat it 2 times a day. The course of therapy lasts taking into account the depth of the nail plate injury.
Garlic is a plant rich in phytoncides. It can be soaked in salt and rubbed on the affected area. Porridge, which is applied in the form of a compress, is also useful. It is important that there are no wounds or cracks on the skin, otherwise the garlic will cause pain and the wound will not heal.
Ammonia is used as compresses, 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. A clean bandage is then dipped in a solution and applied to the affected areas overnight as a compress.
Many times in reviews the nail fungus is mentioned, defeated by using ordinary soda. The soda creates an unfavorable environment for the fungus. The powder is diluted with water to a slurry state, applied to the affected nails for 20 minutes, rinsed and dried. This is not only an effective therapy, but an effective prevention of toenail fungus in case of visiting swimming pools and saunas.
Boric acid is used after the feet have been steamed in a soda bath. After water procedures, you need to thoroughly dry your feet and nails, sprinkle with boric acid powder, put on your socks and leave overnight. The procedure is repeated throughout the week.
Prevention of onychomycosis.
The attending physician will explain to you how to quickly cure toenail fungus and what to do in order not to get infected with this unpleasant disease. First of all, you need to be careful to walk barefoot in public places (saunas, gym, swimming pool), in all places where you need to wear rubber slippers.
However, if an incident happened and you do not want to know from your own experience what the danger of toenail fungus is, you should use a prophylactic varnish on your return home or take a shower with an antifungal shampoo.
Second, if the skin on the legs is damaged, the risk of infection increases significantly. Before the restoration of the skin, you need to cancel the trip to the pool, to workouts, etc. If there was contact with a surface that could be infected and then the skin itches, you should immediately treat these places with ointment. of the fungus.
Third, in order not to worry about the question of whether toenail fungus can be cured, it is important to choose shoes for the season, dry them and keep them clean. Other people should not be allowed to wear your shoes.
You should not remove anyone's shoes, and when you try on shoes in a store, you should put on your socks or stockings so as not to come into contact with bare skin with the shoes. After buying a shoe, you need to disinfect it: put a cotton swab dipped in tea tree oil inside, put it in an airtight bag for a day.