The first symptoms and signs of toenail fungus

The fungus is an infectious disease and most often affects the nails or skin of the legs. You can get infected very easily, danger is almost everywhere. As the fungus is essentially an infection, it lives mostly in public places. To exclude the possibility of infection, it is important to know how the pathology is transmitted to humans.

How does infection occur

The disease always originates due to a damp environment. The main reason will be the constant perspiration of the legs.Statistics show that a large accumulation of parasites is observed in public places such as saunas, baths, swimming pools and so on.It is impossible to destroy the causative agent of the infection by drying shoes or feet.

Asking the question of how infectious the fungus is, it can be argued that the pathology passes easily from person to person. It is almost impossible to insure against such diseases. Many pathogens are found in public places where people walk around barefoot. This means that if a healthy person steps barefoot on the surface where the infected person was, in the presence of provoking factors, the disease will begin to progress immediately.

The fungus has a high resistance to various destructive factors, so it remains on surfaces for a long time. On beaches, the fungus is much less common as the salt water destroys the pathogen, but the risk of infection still remains. Remember to always wear only your flip-flops, socks and inner shoes.

The first signs of nail fungus and its symptoms

Ringworm of the feet is always in the developmental stage, so the first signs of nail fungus can be seen even in the early stages if you are attentive to the state of your body.Different stages of the fungus differ in their characteristics. If the early stages of the disease can still be ignored due to inattention to oneself, the latter will make themselves felt clearly. Consider the symptoms that appear in the early stages:

1. small dots appear on a healthy nail, which differ in their shade from the rest of the plate;
2. over time, these spots begin to grow and turn into white spots and stripes;
3. later, the spots become large and the nail plate loses its shine;
4. the plate acquires a yellow tint, sometimes it changes to blue or green.

How to determine pathology at home

If the nail changes color, becomes loose, this does not necessarily mean that the fungus has reached it. How does nail fungus start? To determine a fungal infection at home, iodine and potassium permanganate are used.

1. Potassium permanganate.This procedure is quite simple and does not require a lot of free time. Pour warm water into a bowl and add potassium permanganate to make the solution weak. Lower your legs into your pelvis and wait 10 minutes. At this time, healthy nails will turn brown and those affected by the fungus will remain unaffected.
2. Iodine.Unfortunately, this tool does not determine that there is a leg fungus pathogen. But iodine will indicate the exclusion of other types of fungi, including pityriasis versicolor. If redness, peeling, etc. are visible around the nail, treat this spot with iodine. Healthy tissue will not darken too much, but the affected tissue will become quite dark.

Treatment

Treatment of foot fungus starts with its diagnosis. First, the dermatologist performs a visual examination and then prescribes laboratory tests.Do not forget that it is impossible to stop the treatment after the first improvements, as the fungi are very resistant, so the disease develops again.

local therapy

Creams, ointments, lotions, sprays, medicated varnishes are used as local preparations. Such drugs well relieve symptoms and destroy superficial foci. Means are actively used in childhood, during pregnancy, as they are absolutely safe. Local therapy is especially effective in the early stages of the pathology.

Medicines

Taking medication increases the effectiveness of topical fungus treatment. The pills penetrate the bloodstream and kill the fungus inside the body.But this method has a number of significant drawbacks.Firstly, the drugs have a number of contraindications, and secondly, they have side effects. It is not possible to take these drugs in all cases. However, funds are the only solution that will help in advanced cases. To increase the effectiveness of the treatment, local remedies, drugs and traditional medicine are used simultaneously.

laser treatment

Laser therapy is becoming more and more popular.The technique was performed recently, and its effectiveness has already been proven.Laser therapy has the following benefits:

• The treatment is safe, the beam only treats the affected tissue. After the event, only healthy tissue remains.
• The procedure is painless and well tolerated by patients.
• Improvement is noticeable after the first session.
• About 4 procedures are enough to get a positive result.

The use of a laser frees the patient from taking harmful drugs and a long course of treatment.

Surgery

In some cases, complete removal of the affected nail is necessary.Surgery is performed to completely stop the spread of the infection. This procedure can increase the effectiveness of the use of local funds. Nail removal can be carried out using special formulations. It is important for an expert to be careful. So that this substance does not get into the skin, otherwise it will cause a chemical burn.

Keratolytic patches can help with nail plate removal. This tool will smooth the nail well for easy removal. Plasters are used most popularly as they have a dense texture. Thus, the doctor reduces the likelihood of substances entering the skin. The adhesive smoothes the nail in 2 days, other products last for 4 days.

Therapy of the neglected form

With the advanced stage of nail fungus, you should not despair, just follow the following rules:

1. Determine and remove the cause of the infection.
2. Constantly disinfect your shoes or even change all pairs. Buy antifungal shoe sprays.
3. Update socks.
4. Pass all necessary tests and follow the treatment regimen prescribed by a dermatologist.
5. Observe all dietary restrictions.

Therapy at this stage must be carried out in a complex way. In addition to local remedies, they connect effective medicines that act on the fungus from the inside and also use traditional medicine. With the latter, you need to be careful and take into account existing allergic reactions to one or another component.

Varieties of forms of ringworm

Foot fungus is divided into several types, which depend on the pathogen. Among these types, it is worth mentioning:

• Rubromycosis.Symptoms of this type are peeling skin, dryness, excessive sweating, cracked and broken nails.
• Epidermophytosis.The fungus destroys the nail by destroying the keratin in it. This type of fungus is very difficult to cure, it is resistant to low temperatures, antiseptics, drying and other manipulations. For a long time, the fungus is able to reproduce. The signs of this form are redness of the skin, intense itching, peeling, exfoliation of the base of the nail.
• Candidiasis.The disease is caused by several types of fungi. The nail plates of the 3rd and 4th fingers are affected. The initial stage is characterized by mild inflammation. After that, the edema is connected, a change in shape and thickness leads to the fact that the cuticle begins to be torn off. After these processes, the fungus enters the bed itself and spreads throughout the nail area. In this case, the development of onycholysis begins.

Disease prevention

Doctors and scientists say that there are about one and a half million species of mushrooms in the world. Only half of them have been studied, while the selection of treatment for them is quite complicated.The ideal solution would be laser therapy alone, which would favorably affect any type of fungus.

To avoid becoming infected with this unpleasant disease, it is important to follow the rules of prevention. Measures to prevent the pathology are quite difficult, but do not require financial costs. There are 2 main ways to protect yourself from toe fungus:

1. personal hygiene and caution in public places;
2. prevention with the help of special medicines.

If you like to visit common places like baths, saunas or swimming pools, make sure you wash your feet well when you get home.Also, dry your feet as the fungus is very tenacious and especially loves a humid environment. Buy only cotton fabric socks. This material absorbs moisture well, which is released when your feet start to sweat. When feet in closed shoes sweat a lot, ventilate them periodically, if possible.

If you go to the store to buy shoes, bring your own footprint or sock from home, do not try on shoes barefoot or wear public footprints. Get regular foot care like pedicures and other treatments. Do not use shared hygiene items. You must bring your own towel. Well, if someone in your house has been infected with a foot fungus, avoid contact with it in all possible ways, allocate individual household items to the patient.