Nail mycosis (onychomycosis) is diagnosed on average in 10-15% of the world population, and among people over 60 years of age, the incidence reaches 30-50%. Men suffer 1. 3 times more than women, probably due to an insufficiently responsible attitude towards the problem. It is difficult to get rid of onychomycosis, but it is possible, and the main task of the doctor and patient is to choose the right remedy for nail fungus. We talk about what drugs are and how they work.
Is therapy necessary for the fungus?
Many people, especially older men, neglect the treatment of the fungus, believing that this problem is only aesthetic and, in addition to a cosmetic defect, does not cause consequences. This is a very dangerous misconception. We explain why.
First, the fungus is extremely contagious. If you don't pay attention to treatment, the infection spreads quickly. The causative agents of onychomycosis are easily transmitted through household items, and the patient runs the risk of infecting the entire family.
Second (and more importantly), the nail fungus problem is not just cosmetic. A neglected disease significantly reduces the quality of life: pain appears, difficulties with the selection of shoes and all sorts of household inconveniences arise. The nail plate, affected by the fungus, can collapse over time. But it's still half the problem. Without timely and proper treatment, onychomycosis harms the entire body. The risk of allergies increases (due to the development of hypersensitivity to fungi and their metabolic products), infectious complications often join (eg, erysipelas). In the context of onychomycosis, any skin diseases are more serious. Not to mention that chronic infection weakens the immune system.
Therefore, the answer is unequivocal: it is necessary to treat nail fungus and as soon as possible. The further the process progresses, the more difficult it is to get rid of the disease. Therefore, ideally, therapy should be initiated at the first sign of injury. Another issue is how to handle it. The variety of medications is so wide that it's easy to get confused. But you need to know how they work to understand which remedy helps to get rid of nail fungus. We'll tell you about it.
Choosing a remedy for nail fungus
On the net you can find many recommendations for the fight against the fungus. Traditional medicine advises getting rid of it with the help of soda, ammonia, propolis, kerosene, celandine juice, essential oils. There are recipes for remedies for nail fungus with vinegar, iodine, hydrogen peroxide. By resorting to these seemingly harmless home methods, the patient only exacerbates the problem. Not a single traditional medication destroys the onychomycosis pathogens, and the lesion progresses, covering an increasing area of the nail plate. In the end, the patient ends up in the dermatologist's office with an advanced fungus that is very difficult to treat.
So advice number one - no self-treatment! If signs of the disease are found, it is necessary to contact a dermatologist who will prescribe an effective drug for nail fungus. Self-medication is unacceptable, if only because onychomycosis is caused by different types of pathogens, and in each case it is important to choose the right active ingredient. And in order not to doubt the recommendations of a specialist, it is worth knowing how they work and how the drugs used to treat this disease differ from each other.
Means for treating nail fungus can be classified according to the form of release and the active ingredient. Of the other selection criteria, price category and ease of use are important.
release form
External preparations against nail fungus are produced in the form of varnish, spray, cream (ointment) and solution.
antifungalvarnishes, as a rule, women prefer it, because with the help of such products it is possible to combine treatment with cosmetic care. Before processing, it is necessary to file the surface of the nail plate with a file. After applying medical varnish, you can use decorative. This is the main advantage of this dosage form.
However, varnishes are not universal. Firstly, they are only effective with a small area of damage. If the fungus has spread to more than a third of the nail plate, the remedy will not help. Secondly, the drug in the form of a varnish can only deal with superficial mycoses. This is because it cannot penetrate the lower layers of the nail. With a deep injury, when the nail plate is thickened, the antifungal agent in the form of enamel will not work - a stronger drug is needed.
cream and spray- similar shapes: both oil-based. They are ideal for the treatment of cutaneous mycoses, which, by the way, usually accompany nail fungus. The tool easily penetrates the lower layers of the epidermis, destroying the pathogen. But the nail has a denser structure, and the oil-based preparation does not reach all places of infection. Cream or spray is best used as an adjunct to the treatment of onychomycosis - with concurrent fungal infections of the skin of the feet.
Solution- the ideal form of antifungal agent for nails. The water-alcohol drug penetrates deep into the nail plate, filling the voids and channels through which the pathogen spreads. Therefore, the fungicidal and fungistatic effect of liquid nail fungus remedy is stronger than in other forms.
active substance
Anti-fungal preparations are mainly substances of synthetic origin (rarely natural), with a diverse chemical structure. Depending on this, the spectrum of their activity differs, that is, the action against certain pathogens. Since onychomycosis can be caused by different types of pathogenic fungi, the correct choice of active substance is very important.
Observation
To reliably establish the type of pathogen, it is necessary to perform a microbiological study of a tissue fragment. But you can usually determine the type of fungus by the external characteristics of the affected nail. The most common causative agent of onychomycosis is Trichophyton rubrum. Less commonly, the disease is caused by other types of dermatophytes, yeast-like fungi, and fungi.
In terms of chemical structure, there are several groups of antifungal drugs:
polyena. These include substances such as nystatin, levorin, amphotericin. When taken orally, they are active against many types of fungi, but topical application of these agents is only effective for candidiasis. Therefore, polyenes are generally not prescribed for the treatment of onychomycosis.
azoles. For external use, drugs based on clotrimazole, econazole, miconazole, oxiconazole, isoconazole, bifonazole are used. Their action is predominantly fungistatic - that is, these drugs prevent the development of the fungus. The fungicidal effect (destruction of the pathogen) is possible when high concentrations of the substance are reached in the tissues. Azoles are active against Candida yeast fungi and dermatomycetes, which cause skin lesions. With onychomycosis, these medications are not very effective.
Allylamines. This is the main group of antifungals prescribed for the treatment of mycoses of the skin and nails. For topical use, terbinafine and naftifine-based products are suitable. The former is also prescribed orally in an advanced stage of the disease. Naftifine is an effective treatment for onychomycosis. It exhibits fungicidal activity against dermatophytes (including Trichophyton Rubrum), yeasts and molds - in a word, the main possible causative agents of fungal nail infections. In addition, naftifine acts on many bacteria.
Of the other substances not included in these groups, amorolfine and ciclopirox are used to treat onychomycosis. Both drugs are applied topically, mostly as part of antifungal varnishes.
Easy to use
Getting rid of the fungus is a long process. For several months, nail care will become a daily procedure, otherwise a positive result will not be achieved. Given the duration of treatment, it is important to choose a tool that is convenient to use. In the case of varnish, it should be borne in mind that the surface of the nail must be sanded before each use. Therefore, it is good that there are disposable files in the kit. In the case of a solution, it is preferable to choose a product packaged in a sealed bottle with a dropper stopper. The elongated dropper nose is more convenient for local application of the solution where it can penetrate deep into the nail plate. This form is great in dosage: it is easy to measure and apply the required amount of the drug, which makes consumption more economical.
Packing and course cost
Treatment of the fungus should be continued until a healthy nail plate has grown completely. With onychomycosis of the hands, this process takes about four months. Toenails grow slower than toenails and can take up to a year to heal. So the purchase of an antifungal agent is not a one-time expense, but a regular expense item, and of course I want to keep it as little as possible. However, the desire to save should not prevail: the main selection criterion is efficiency. A reasonable decision is to focus on the active substance. Sometimes this makes it possible to choose an analogue of a widely advertised drug that is equal in effectiveness but more profitable in price.
Onychomycosis not only reduces the quality of life, but also threatens with serious complications. Therefore, when the first signs of infection are detected, it is necessary to consult a doctor as soon as possible and start treatment.Remedies for nail and nail fungus with clinically proven effectiveness.
nail fungus solution
To fight nail fungus, you can use the drug in the form of a solution. The active ingredient of the drug is naftifine, a substance of the allylamine group, which is active against most types of pathogenic fungi. Destroys dermatophytes (Trichophyton, Epidermophyton, Microsporum), Candida yeast fungi, Aspergilla molds and other types of fungal nail and skin pathogens. The drug in the form of a solution penetrates the thickness of the nail plate, moves along the path of propagation of the fungus and creates stable concentrations of the drug in the zone of accumulation of infection.
The action of the drug is fungicidal, that is, it not only stops the development of the fungus, but destroys it.
In addition, naftifine has antibacterial activity. Fungal diseases of the nails and skin are often complicated by bacterial infections, and the use of the drug can solve both problems at the same time.
An additional effect of naftifine is anti-inflammatory. It helps to reduce the redness, swelling, and itching that often accompany a fungal infection.
Indications for the use of the solution include fungal infections not only of the nail plate, but also of smooth skin, skin folds and interdigital lesions, as well as candidiasis, pityriasis versicolor, inflammatory dermatomycosis. The same range of indications for other products in the line - cream and spray.