Have you noticed how all of a sudden, out of nowhere, one or more of your fingers or toenails start ‘rotting’ or ‘thickening’ by first becoming slightly white or yellowish and then go on to decay for the rest of the time?
Although this condition (read: infection) might appear to be present atop the nail, owing to the discoloration, it is present just beneath your nail, sometimes even deeper into the skin where it is difficult for you to reach.
This condition is initially painless, it would not be until late that you would start experiencing pain, that too, quite a little bit on your toenail that you will notice that something has happened down there.
If not for the pain, then this condition might also come to your notice when your nails start to thicken or appear as crumbled on. Before you know it, it might go on to involve all the nails of the same foot or hand, but usually, people find out about this condition before it is too late.
What Is Nail Fungus?
This condition is known as ‘Onychomycosis’ or simply 'Nail Fungus’ and it does not only make your nail appear misshapen or ugly, it affects its overall health and growth and becomes a source of pain and problems in the future. Moreover, the toenails are involved frequently as compared to the hand’s fingernails.
It is a matter of common observation that our feet remained covered more than our hands. Most of the time when we are out or even inside, our feet are clad in either socks or shoes.
This makes the feet deprived of light (Yes, light matters for the feet too!), air, and of course, all these factors make the feet predisposed to humidity, thanks to the sweating and the heat present within the covered surface area of the feet.
Now, you must have studied about this in high school that a ‘moist’ and ‘humid’ environment is the most favorite place for fungi to grow on, reproduce, and cherish it is as their own home that they start growing in such environments and this is exactly what happens to your toenails as well, under such conditions.
The fungi are so persistent and hell-bent on choosing your toenail as their new home that they penetrate deep within your nail bed (you wouldn’t feel the pain as if they were actually penetrating through it), that within a matter of weeks or months, you will notice what damage they have done in the form of ruining your nail plate’s architecture when it grows out in an abnormally thickened, irregular, and brittle form. And that is when the real problems begin - you will have to struggle with taking extreme care of the nail so that it does not go on to decay further and further and does not go on to involve the other nails, thus starting up what you call a ‘chain reaction’.
What is worse here is the development or growth of an ingrown toenail, which gets extremely painful once it starts growing up gradually. Ingrown toenails have to be, sadly, extracted out, surgically. This is yet another one of those extremely precautioned, safe-keeping procedures that require to be taken care of in the long term.
The toenail, once involved, becomes a subject of great concern. The debris that keeps on building up, along with causing the nail to grow further abnormally, is also capable of splitting your otherwise normal nail apart or causing the nail to turn extremely pigmented or dark and exude an unpleasant smell.
Most athletes are prone to developing these conditions as they are predisposed to wearing their shoes for longer periods than any of us normal individuals alone and are also seen to be sweating more profusely than the rest of the people.
If you have ever experienced this condition, then ask yourself honestly - did this condition ever shatter your confidence greatly because the doctor must have told you to take or apply medications on it and let time do the work?
Did it frustrate you even once that what if your nail never becomes better again? Or did the never-ending thoughts like ‘what if after it gets pulled out surgically, it ends up getting infected again?’ keep on consuming your mental well-being now and then?
While these thoughts are natural and nearly every other person who goes through this infection has the same thoughts, there now exists a need to let us find out if there exists some other ‘remedy’ or miraculous treatment for it that could help you get rid of the problem - painlessly, effortlessly, and cheaply without putting you under extreme levels of stress. (HINT: There is ONE miraculous treatment option waiting for you a few lines below this very section! Get geared up for the big reveal!)
Treatment Options For Nail Fungus
Well, truth be told here - so far, we are still struggling (hold your horses, the big reveal is just about to set in!) to find out one single treatment plan for treating nail fungus.
The reason for encountering these difficulties in treating this condition is because fungal infections could be tricky to deal with. They present with a myriad of symptoms and not every single one of them could be treated all at once, with just a single dose of any medicine.
So far, all the treatment regimens that have been used - OTC painkillers, oral antifungals, and topical creams, all have seen to exert their effects very slowly or not exert them at all.
Some antifungals also have certain side effects that could alter the health of a person greatly and induce conditions or disorders in the body of a person that were never there before. These side effects include liver damage, skin rash, congestive heart failure, and several others.
It is because of the low effectiveness, reduced mechanism of action in particular individuals (diabetic or immunocompromised ones), and a greater adverse effects profile that these treatments are considered to be nothing but a ‘time-pass’ for keeping the symptoms from exacerbating further or from deteriorating the already-rotting nail further.
Laser Treatment for Toenail Fungus
So, amidst all these confusions, what should a person do then? Should they let it go bad while they sit back and watch how it deteriorates? Of course, this is not something that we are going to recommend to you at all. There is something, or rather SOMEONE, that we have in store for you who is guaranteed and now, becoming increasingly popular to help treat your nail fungus conveniently.
This person is none other than Dr. Jeffrey Kleis, DPM an expert podiatrist in Costa Mesa, California. Dr. Kleis has been an advocate for promoting LASER treatment for toenail fungus as an effective treatment plan for all suffering patients.
He has spoken on various occasions on this topic and recommends people to get this Laser Treatment done at least once if nothing has worked for them for this problem. Dr. Kleis also performs this treatment at his clinic for his patients who are suffering from this problem.
What Happens In the Laser Treatment For Toenail Fungus?
In this form of treatment, Laser beams are focused on the fungal growth that has embedded themselves deep into the tissue of the nail bed.
Remember, how we earlier mentioned that the fungus typically penetrates the nail to find itself a home? Laser does the same and penetrates the fungal overgrowth to eradicate or remove it from the affected area.
The Laser beams also stop the fungus from growing any further. In this way, not only is the pain resolved but the toenail also starts growing back normally and healthily, without any further deviations.
Dr. Kleis efficiently performs this procedure in approximately half an hour and once it is done, the patient is free to go back to their homes and work and resume their activities there and then.
Firstly, a complete examination of your foot and toenail would be done to assess the damage. Then, depending on your nail’s condition, any one of the two available types of Lasers - Cutera GenesisPlus or the Lunula Laser would be applied to your toenail to stop the fungal overgrowth.
This procedure is painless, although the patient is said to experience a slight tingling sensation in their toenails. This treatment is approximately 85-90% effective for treating cases of toenail fungus and the way that it requires no anesthetic and could easily be taken care of as an in-office procedure is what makes it a promising treatment option for toenail fungus.
Under the expertise of Dr. Kleis, you should be comfortable knowing that he knows what he is doing and would assure you the best guaranteed results that would be enough to last for a long time and would prevent any recurrences from happening anytime sooner!