How To Treat Fungal Nail Infection

Hello, I'm Charles Goldman, a qualified chiropodist podiatrist. I run The Foot Pad, chiropody and podiatry therapy clinic in Holborn, Central London. I am going to talk to you about various foot problems and their treatments.

In this film, we're going to talk about fungal nail infections. Fungal nails are one of the most common foot problems in this country. Over 1% of the population suffer from it.

Unfortunately, because in the initial statement, it doesn't hurt or cause any discomfort, people do nothing about it. Particularly, women see a discoloration of the nails and cover it up with nail varnish, which is the worst thing you can do because fungus likes dark, damp conditions, and it grows much faster when covered with nail varnish. What we recommend is as soon as you see a discoloration of the nails, get a professional to look at it, whether a doctor or a chiropodist, and then define the treatment.

If it is a fungal nail infection, you can check this by having a culture taken from a clipping of the nail to confirm what sort of fungus it is, and that is it a fungal nail infection. If it is, there are drugs you can take, which I don't recommend, but you can get them on prescription from the doctor. They are not as effective as one would hope and they do have side effects which is a reason I don't recommend them.

There are products you can get over the counter from chemists which you paint on the nails. These generally don't work because the fungus lives underneath the nails and these products don't penetrate. Although there is research ongoing to try to find a way of delivering these fungicides to the site of the growth.

We use other treatments to slow down the growth of fungus such as laser and liquid fungicide which you apply to the nail and penetrate underneath the nail. I recommend you get a product like this, generally a liquid, MicroAid, Canesten, and apply this a couple of drops morning and night to the tip of the nail so it soaks down underneath the nail and you have a 60% chance of this working. It is generally more effective if you catch it early on.

So as soon as you see a discoloration of the nails, do treat it immediately. And we recommend this as a treatment for fungal nail infections. .