Nail fungus treatment lasts at least six months and is subject to properly prescribed therapy. Many people, especially before summer, are concerned about the question: how soon will the nails return to their previous healthy appearance? What will it look like immediately after starting treatment? And in a month or two?
In addition, whether the treatment is effective or not can be determined by the appearance of the nails. Let's see what you need to pay attention to in the appearance of the nails after treating the fungus.
Why is nail fungus difficult to treat?
Onychomycosis (fungal infection of the nail plate) is very difficult to treat in all people. There are three reasons for this:
The microbe gets into the nail and not all local medicines can reach it. Moreover, most fungi provide themselves with "protection" in the form of thickening of the nail plate.
In most cases, onychomycosis is accompanied by a fungal infection of the feet. And as soon as a person heals his nails, the fungus re-enters the nail bed from the skin of the feet.
Re-infection also occurs through one's own socks, shoes, as well as when bathing in the bathtub/shower.
Classic ways of treating onychomycosis
Currently, medicine uses three main approaches in the treatment of nail fungus:
Systemic drugs in the form of tablets or capsules. They can help, but they need to be taken for a long time - from 4 to 18 months. All these drugs are toxic to the liver, their intake can be complicated by the development of diarrhea, skin rashes and changes in taste. Therefore, during treatment, you must strictly follow a therapeutic diet, stop drinking alcohol and periodically take blood tests - "liver tests".
Local medicines (creams, varnishes). They do not always penetrate well into the nail plate. Therefore, it must be prepared in advance: cut off the ingrown masses of the nail with scissors or remove them with a cutter. You can't do it yourself: you can damage the cells that make up the nail plate.
Combined therapy: simultaneous application of a systemic drug and application of a local antifungal agent to the affected nail. It is used in severe cases to slightly minimize the severity of side effects of systemic drugs. The effectiveness of such treatment is also not high.
In some cases, dermatologists remove the affected nail plate before prescribing a topical treatment. Now they try to do this less and less, limiting themselves only to removing the affected area - in order to avoid nail infection with bacteria.
It seems that onychomycosis can be left untreated, but it actually represents something more than an aesthetic defect. It can lead to a severe mixed (fungal and bacterial) infection of the foot or hand, which can even lead to gangrene.
What do nails look like after fungal treatment?
In the first 2-3 months from the start of using local drugs, the nail plate will not change noticeably yet. The fungi that remain in the subungual space continue to reproduce, and the nail becomes thicker or, conversely, thinner. The growing plate retains its pathological color for some time: yellow, milky white, black or brown. It may still be scaly, ridged or curved. It may have a chip or an area where it moves away from its seat.
When treated with tablets, pathological changes in the growing nail plate can be observed in less than two months. Then, after treating the fungus, the area of the nail closest to the hole should take on a healthy appearance:
- become smooth;
- change color to pink or reddish, uniform color;
- they get normal thickness.
If the nail grows back after removing the entire nail plate, it has the right to be a little thinner. This is also an indicator of his health.
If, despite the treatment, after 2-3 months the nails remain discolored, thick or smooth, then the therapy must be reconsidered.
How soon the whole nail will become healthy
It depends on the growth rate of the nail plates. It is affected by:
- age: the younger the person, the higher the speed;
- nature of nutrition: insufficient intake of vitamins and microelements reduces the speed of nail growth;
- Ambient temperature: in a warm climate, nails grow faster;
- frequency of nail injuries: they slow down the growth of plates;
- hormonal status: for example, during pregnancy, the growth rate of the plate increases;
- the presence of common chronic diseases: they slow down the growth of nails;
- taking drugs that affect the rate of cell division.
On average, a healthy nail after treatment of fungus on the hands grows in 6 months, on the feet in 12-18 months. Fingernails and toenails grow slower than others. So, if the nail plates on 2-5 fingers of the lower extremities grow at a speed of 1 mm/month, then on the first finger this speed is up to 0. 7 mm/month.
How can you speed up the treatment of onychomycosis?
Laser therapy can be used to make nails grow faster after fungal treatment. It involves treating the nail plate with a neodymium laser device with a wavelength of 1064 nm. Its radiation freely penetrates the nail bed and heats the fungal cells to high temperatures there, causing them to die. In addition, the heat of the laser activates blood circulation in the nail bed, which accelerates the growth of a healthy nail plate.
The laser is used in combination with local therapy. After the laser treatment session, the patient should apply the recommended cream or nail polish, and also carefully treat the shoes with an antiseptic to avoid re-infection.
The effectiveness of neodymium laser treatment of onychomycosis has been examined in several foreign multicenter studies. This is an excellent addition to local treatment, has a short duration of the procedure and is not accompanied by side effects.
Therefore, a healthy nail plate should start growing in the first months after starting treatment. It may be a little thinner than usual, but it has a uniform pink color and smoothness. The treatment process is significantly accelerated when the affected plaques are treated with a neodymium laser.