Nail fungus treatment takes at least six months, and this is subject to properly prescribed therapy. Many people, especially on summer nights, worry about the question: how quickly will the nails return to their previous healthy appearance? What do they look like right after starting treatment? And in a month or two?
In addition, whether the treatment is effective or not can also be determined by the appearance of the nails. Let's see what you should pay attention to in the appearance of your nails after fungal treatment.
Why is nail fungus difficult to treat?
Onychomycosis (fungal infection of the nail plate) is very difficult to treat in everyone. There are three reasons for this:
Microbes get into the nail bed and not all topical medications can reach them. 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 again enters the nail bed from the skin of the feet.
Reinfection also occurs through socks, shoes, and even when showering in the shower/shower.
The classic type of treatment for onychomycosis
Currently, medicine uses three main approaches to treat nail fungus:
Systemic drugs in the form of tablets or capsules. They can help, but for this they need to take a long course - from 4 to 18 months. All of these drugs are toxic to the liver; taking it can be complicated by the development of diarrhea, skin rashes, and changes in taste. Therefore, during treatment you need to strictly follow a therapeutic diet, stop drinking alcohol and periodically take blood tests - "liver tests".
Local medicine (cream, varnish). They do not always penetrate the nail plate well. Therefore, it must be prepared in advance: cut the excess nail mass with scissors or remove it using a cutter. You can not do this yourself: you can damage the cells that give rise to the nail plate.
Combined therapy: simultaneous administration of systemic drugs and the use of local antifungal agents on the affected nail. It is used in severe cases to minimize the severity of side effects from systemic drugs. The effectiveness of such treatment is also not very 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 file the affected area - to avoid bacterial infection.
It seems that onychomycosis can be left untreated, but in fact it represents something more than an aesthetic defect. It can lead to a severe mixed infection (fungal and bacterial) in the feet or hands, which can lead to gangrene.
What does the nail look like after treating the fungus?
In the first 2-3 months from the start of using the local medicine, the nail plate will not change significantly. The fungus that lives in the subungual space continues to multiply, and thickening or, conversely, re-thinning is formed on the nail. The growing plate retains its pathological color for some time: yellow, milky white, black or brown. It may still be scaly, ribbed or curved. There may be a chip on it, or an area where it moved from its bed.
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 look healthy:
- to be slippery;
- change color to pink or reddish, uniform color;
- acquire 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 nail remains changed in color, thickness or smoothness, then the therapy must be reviewed.
How quickly the whole nail will be healthy
It depends on the growth rate of the nail plate. It is influenced by:
- age: the younger the person, the greater the speed;
- nutritional properties: insufficient intake of vitamins and microelements reduces the rate of nail growth;
- Environmental temperature: in hot climates, nails grow faster;
- the frequency of nail injuries: they slow down the growth of the plate;
- hormonal status: for example, during pregnancy, the rate of plate growth increases;
- the presence of common chronic diseases: they make nail growth slower;
- taking drugs that affect the rate of cell division.
On average, healthy nails after treating the fungus on the hands grow in 6 months, on the feet in 12-18 months. Nails on thumbs and toes grow slower than others. So, if the nail plate on the 2-5 lower toes grows at a speed of 1 mm / month, then on the first toe this speed is up to 0. 7 mm / month.
How can you speed up the treatment of onychomycosis?
To make nails grow back faster after fungal treatment, laser therapy can be used. It involves treating the nail plate with a neodymium laser device with a wavelength of 1064 nm. Its radiation freely penetrates the base of the nail and there heats the fungal cells to a high temperature, as a result of which they die. In addition, the heat from the laser activates blood circulation in the nail bed, which accelerates the growth of a healthy nail plate.
Lasers are used in conjunction with local therapy. After the laser treatment session, the patient should use the recommended cream or varnish on the nails, and also carefully treat the shoes with an antiseptic to prevent re-infection.
The effectiveness of treating onychomycosis with a neodymium laser has been tested in several foreign multicenter studies. This is an excellent addition to local treatment, has a short procedure duration and is not accompanied by side effects.
Therefore, a healthy nail plate should begin to develop in the first month from the start of treatment. It may be a little thinner than usual, but has a uniform and smooth pink color. The treatment process is significantly accelerated when the affected plate is treated with a neodymium laser.