Treatment of nail fungus takes at least six months and this must be treated as prescribed. Many people, especially on the verge of summer, worry about the question: how long will it take for nails to return to their previous healthy shape? What will they look like immediately 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 look at what you need to pay attention to when it comes to the appearance of your nails after fungus treatment.
Why is nail fungus difficult to treat?
Onychomycosis (fungal infection of the nail plate) is difficult to treat in everyone. There are three reasons for this:
Bacteria get into the nails and not all local medicines can reach them. Moreover, most types of fungi provide themselves with "protection" by thickening 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 one's own socks, shoes, and even when bathing in the bath/shower.
Classic treatments for onychomycosis
Currently, medicine uses 3 main methods to treat nail fungus:
Systemic medication in tablet or capsule form. They can help, but for this they need to go through a long period of time - from 4 to 18 months. All of these drugs are toxic to the liver; Their use can be complicated by diarrhea, skin rashes, and changes in taste. Therefore, during treatment, you need to strictly adhere to the therapeutic diet, stop drinking alcohol and periodically have blood tests - "liver tests".
Topical remedies (creams, varnishes). They do not always penetrate the nail plate well. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare in advance: cut off overgrown nail masses with scissors or remove with a cutter. You cannot do this yourself: you can damage the cells that form the nail plate.
Combination therapy: simultaneous use of a systemic drug and application of a local antifungal drug to the affected nail. It is used in severe cases to slightly minimize the severity of side effects caused by systemic medications. The effectiveness of such treatment is not very high.
In some cases, a dermatologist will remove the affected nail plate before prescribing a topical treatment. Now they are trying to do this less and less, limiting themselves to filing only the affected area - to avoid bacterial contamination of the nail bed.
It may seem that nail fungus can go untreated, but in reality, it is more than just a cosmetic defect. It can lead to serious mixed (fungal and bacterial) infections of the feet or hands, and can even lead to gangrene.
What do nails look like after fungus treatment?
During the first 2-3 months after starting to use the topical medication, the nail plate has not yet shown obvious changes. The remaining fungi in the subungual cavity continue to multiply and form thickening or, conversely, thinning on the nail. The planting 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 debris on it or an area where it moved away from the 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 will have a healthy appearance:
- become smooth;
- change color to pinkish or reddish, uniform color;
- achieve normal thickness.
If the nail grows back after removing the entire nail plate, it may be a little thinner. This is also a sign of his health.
If after 2-3 months of treatment the nail still changes in color, thickness or smoothness, treatment therapy must be reconsidered.
How quickly the entire nail will become healthy
It depends on the growth rate of the nail plates. It is affected by:
- age: the younger the person, the greater the speed;
- nutritional nature: insufficient supply of vitamins and trace elements reduces the speed of nail growth;
- Environmental temperature: in warm climates, nails grow faster;
- frequency of nail trauma: they slow down the growth of the nail plate;
- Hormonal conditions: for example, during pregnancy, the rate of plaque growth increases;
- the presence of common chronic diseases: they make the nails grow more slowly;
- Taking drugs that affect the rate of cell division.
On average, a healthy nail will develop after treating fungus in the hands after 6 months, and in the feet after 12-18 months. Fingernails on the thumb and toes grow more slowly than other nails. Therefore, if the nail plates on 2-5 fingers of the lower limb grow at a rate of 1 mm/month, then on the first finger this speed reaches 0. 7 mm/month.
How can you speed up the treatment of nail fungus?
To help the nail grow back faster after treating the fungus, laser therapy can be used. It involves treating the nail plate with a neodymium laser device with a wavelength of 1064nm. Its radiation freely penetrates the nail layer and heats fungal cells to high temperatures, causing them to die. Additionally, the heat from the laser activates blood circulation in the nail bed, helping to accelerate the growth of healthy nail plates.
Lasers are used in conjunction with topical therapy. After the laser treatment session, the patient should apply the recommended cream or varnish to the nails, and treat the shoes carefully with an antiseptic to avoid re-infection.
The effectiveness of neodymium laser treatment of onychomycosis has been tested in a number of multicenter studies abroad. This is a great addition to topical treatment, has a short duration and comes with no side effects.
So, a healthy nail plate will begin to grow in the first months from the start of treatment. It may be a little thinner than usual but is uniformly pinkish in color and smooth. The treatment process is significantly accelerated when the affected plates are treated with a neodymium laser.