Reasons for Nail Fungus

Nail fungus infections are embarrassing and difficult to treat; sufferers wonder ‘why me” but the reasons for nail fungus remain frustratingly unclear. We have identified groups that tend to have a higher incidence, and high risk activities, but doctors still don’t really understand why fungi are able to invade the nails of some people and never afflict others.

Many a proposed reason for onychomycosis takes theories of immunity into consideration. Fungi, being specialists in breaking down decomposing organic material, don’t usually invade living tissue unless there is already some disease process in progress there. In the case of nail fungus the fungi are usually dermatophytes—fungi adapted to living in keratin, a protein that provides the tough texture of nails, hair, horn, hoofs, and even the outer layer of skin—but even they don’t invade living tissue, and they don’t infect everyone. In a certain number of cases, reasons for nail fungus include previous injury to the nail or a more widespread problem with the person’s immune system. This could at lest partially account for the increased incidence in older individuals: immunity tends to wane in old age.

Still a faltering immune system can’t be the only reason for onychomycosis: lots of healthy people have nail fungus infection. Statistics tell us that more men have the condition than women, some families are particularly prone to it, those who engage in sports and frequent fitness centers are at high risk, communal bathing presents a risk, and living in a warm climate is a risk as well. Wearing footwear that does not breathe, and walking barefoot in damp public places such as saunas and swimming pools are well known reasons for nail fungus to settle in.

Epidemiologists tell us that some of the more common and persistent fungi to plague people in Western civilization have come to us from other parts of the world, particularly Africa. In a world where humans move around the globe daily, it’s not surprising that fungi have traveled too, and this may explain an apparent increase in the problem. Still, it seems that reasons for onychomycosis fall into two categories: exposure and susceptibility. Families may have a genetic susceptibility while the elderly, people in poor health, and those suffering from immune diseases become infected more readily. Men working in construction and other physical occupations, atheletes, fitness buffs, swimmers, and those who visit saunas, meanwhile, are more likely to come in contact with dermatophyes. To avoid these reasons for nail fungus, the best defense is to take adequate precautions and look after your nails, hands, and feet.

Nail Infection Treatment

Most people, when they talk about nail infection treatment, really mean fungal nail infection, or onychomycosis. This is because nail infections caused by bacteria are much more uncommon and generally clear up in their own or are so acute as to require immediate medical treatment. Fungus is different: it comes on slowly, spreads slowly, and causes few physical symptoms. Similarly, once established, it is hard to eradicate and often comes back.

Nail infection medicine, then, is generally aimed at the fungi that cause onychomycosis, and it takes many different forms ranging from old home cures to modern commercial drugs produced by pharmaceutical companies. People suffering from onychomycosis—and there are a lot of them—must make hard choices and it’s best that these choices be based on a good knowledge of the debate about nail infection treatment.

Prescription drugs are backed up by clinical trials which provide data about both effectiveness and safety. One might expect that, by now, good nail infection medicine would be readily available. Unfortunately, the prescription drugs available are not perfect: though newer drugs are safer, there’s still a risk of toxicity and other side effects, there’s a high rate of recurrence of infection, nail infection treatment takes many months, and the drugs are prohibitively expensive. Many people opt not to use the prescription medicines for any and all of these reasons.

Topical over-the-counter products used as nail infection medicine, meanwhile, work much better for fungal skin infections that for infected nails. These are topical preparations and they just don’t penetrate nail well enough to act on the fungus growing in the nail bed. Some possible exceptions that have appeared in recent years contain essential oils—oils of various herbs and spices, and especially tee tree oil, which seems to have some scientific evidence to back it up as a nail infection treatment.

Though onychomycosis seems to be more common now that it has been in the past, there have always been cases of it, and this has given rise to a number of home cures in alternative medicine and folklore. Unfortunately, evidence for the efficacy of this type of nail infection medicine is anecdotal: scientific study is almost completely lacking. The good thing about approaches based on folklore is that they usually involve everyday substances such as vinegar, beer, hydrogen peroxide, and mouthwash that are relatively cheap—an attempt at nail infection treatment using one of these will not cost much.

If you suspect that you have onychomycosis, you should consult a medical health professional for confirmation and information about safe nail infection treatment options.