Struggling to Beat Your Fungal Nail Infection? The Podiatrist Explains Why!
Some of us battle for years before overcoming a fungal nail infection. Some of us never win the fight! If left untreated, it’s proven that nail fungus present in one nail will spread to your other nails over time. So why is it that fungal nail infections are so hard to beat?
The nail fungus experts at The Podiatrist explain why:
- Nail infections are fungal, not bacterial, and spread through proliferative spores.
Unfortunately there’s no antibiotic you can take for a nail infection. It’s a fungal infection meaning the offending fungus spreads through fungal spores that are outside of your body and can easily spread. Because of these spores, you must be careful about re-infection from your environment when battling a fungal nail infection and must address your environment too. - Nail fungus embeds into your nail and eats away at it.
This fungus eats away at Keratin – which your nail is made of. Destroying fungus and it’s spores won’t reverse the damage it has created which is why you still need to keep cutting the damaged nail as it grows out. This also poses a risk of reinfection if any of the fungus on the infected nail is still active. This is why treatment needs to be effective or it can turn into a continuous losing battle. - The anatomy and design of the toenail can make it difficult for traditional treatments to reach all parts of the infected nail.
Because toenails function to protect our toes and aid mobility, they are sturdy and durable – and hence protective. This means that it can be difficult for traditional nail lacquers to access all parts of the infected nail, particularly down the skin folds and beneath the nail. This is why nail lacquers, creams and ointments have lower clearance rates of fungal nails compared to other treatment solutions. - Fungus can live for a considerable length of time in many environments.
Fungus is resilient and can live for weeks (and sometimes months!) on various surfaces, like in your shower or public bathroom facilities, shoes, socks, carpet and anywhere that your feet regularly touch. This provides the opportunity for re-infection or a new infection to occur within households that share facilities. - Fungus thrives in dark, moist environments.
Unfortunately for a lot of us, this means our closed-in shoes provide a perfect environment for nail fungus to grow. This is also why we recommend that you dry your feet and nails thoroughly after showering, especially between the toes. As a lot of us require such shoes for work, that factor can definitely be on the side of the fungus in the war. - Traditional anti-fungal creams can be ineffective.
If you have a fungal nail infection it’s likely that you’ll have tried a cream, ointment or lacquer. Unfortunately, you’ll also know, that these don’t work for a lot of people (or take years to) leaving them frustrated and substantially out of pocket over that course of time. The reasons listed above can definitely attribute to the limited success of such topical creams. - Oral medications can be risky
Because of the effect that oral medications can have on liver and kidney function, these medications are only suitable for certain people and even then, carry the risk of side effects that cause damage to these organs. They can also interact with other medications a person is taking to produce unfavourable effects. This is why oral anti-fungals must be GP prescribed and you’ve got to be willing to take the risks, which we’re not.
All summed up
Nail fungals are tricky and pesky things to overcome and it can be a long and frustrating battle. Thankfully there ARE clinically proven and effective ways to overcome fungal nail infections much more easily now – one of them being the Lunula LASER fungal nail treatment. It’s not only completely safe with no side effects but is easy, quick, simple and all done in-house by our expert team here at The Podiatrist. Save yourself a lot of struggle, time and money and give us a call to get rid of your nail fungus today.
