Acrylic Nail Fungus

There's really no such thing as acrylic nail fungus - fungi don't really infect artificial nails, but may infect the natural nail underneath the acrylic one. Fungi that do this are the same species that infect fingernails and toenails in people who don't wear acrylic nails. Fungal infection of a fingernail may go unnoticed for longer under an acrylic nail perhaps, because it is covered up.

The best approach to getting rid of an artificial fingernail fungus infection is probably to let the nail first revert to its natural state. Have the acrylic nail removed and trim back the natural nail as much as possible so that you can treat the area with an antifungal agent. Exposed from under the acrylic nail fungus will look quite ugly and embarrassing, but it's best to put up with this or you will likely have a difficult time clearing up the infection.

Even without the artificial fingernail fungus will not go away on its own. The first step is to make sure that what you think is acrylic nail fungus is really that and not some other nail abnormality that looks similar. It's best to consult a medical professional for a proper diagnosis before choosing a treatment. Should you decide to use a prescription drug to treat the problem, a medical doctor is the only one who can give you a prescription and advise you about treatment.

There are alternatives to prescription drugs for acrylic nail fungus - some of the alternative remedies on the market today show great promise as relatively inexpensive and effective treatments for both natural fungal nail infections and artificial nail fungus. Studies have shown that some plants have potent antifungal properties and alternative medicine practitioners have exploited these botanical properties to produce both topical and oral products that are marketed as nail fungus remedies. The best of these are the ones that contain tea tree oil, an essential oil obtained from the Australian tea tree. Research has shown that tea tree oil has antifungal properties as well as antiviral and antibacterial activity.

Alternative nail fungus remedies are predominantly topical applications - solutions that are applied to the nail and that penetrate through to the fungus underneath to do their work. This is why, in the case of acrylic nail fungus, it's important to expose the natural nail where the infection is in order to treat the infection properly.