The sun, the sea, the wonderful beach . . . You are well rested in the summer, and your skin is covered with a magnificent tan. But what is this unpleasant cracks on the leg between the toes and why did the nail turn yellow? Take a closer look. Maybe this is not just a cosmetic defect?
The first signs of a fungus
A parasitic fungus that has settled on the skin is capable of poisoning the life of anyone. And especially a lot of trouble and grief is caused by the fungus that has settled on the skin of the foot and on the nails. Ladies who have become victims of such a fungus are primarily concerned with the external side of the issue - cracking, flaky skin, yellow crumbling nails - but, according to doctors, the aesthetic problem is far from the main one.
This is a serious illness that needs long-term treatment. The disease occurs first on the skin of the feet, more often in the interdigital folds. Peeling appears between the fingers, accompanied by burning and itching. Then bubbles appear, which burst, forming ulcers and cracks. If you do not start immediate treatment, the fungus will spread to your nails. Once in the nail plate, it continues to grow and multiply. Despite its slowness, the fungus gradually exfoliates the nail, gradually fills it and penetrates into the nail bed. Over time, the affected area captures the nails not only on the feet, but also on the hands. There is even a defeat of internal organs, fortunately, quite rarely.
Manifestationstoenail fungusdepend on the type of infection, as well as on the degree and depth of the fungus. Having moved to the nail plate, dermatophytes usually declare themselves with yellow spots or longitudinal stripes on the sides of the toenail. In some cases, the disease can be guessed by the appearance of bright yellow stripes or spots in the center of the nail plate. On the hands, nails are also "decorated" with similar stripes, but lighter - whitish or grayish.
Yeast fungi thin the nail plate from the sides, while it lags behind the nail bed and becomes yellowish in color. Often, the disease begins with the nail folds, usually on the hands. The rollers thicken, swell and turn red, silvery scales appear along the edge, the nail skin gradually disappears. A bacterial infection can join the process, in which case even suppuration is possible. The nutrition of the tissue in the area of the roller is disturbed, as a result, transverse grooves appear. . . . . . .
Mold fungi can cause onychomycosis only against the background of an already existing nutritional disorder of the nails that has arisen due to other diseases. In this case, the color of the nail plate also changes, it can be yellow, green, blue, brown and even black, but the nail lesion remains superficial. However, you should not diagnose yourself on your own, especially since nail damage can be caused by several fungi at once. In addition, fungus is a common, but not the only cause of serious nail problems.
See a doctor immediately!
If you notice the signs of fungus, do not hope that everything will disappear by itself. The longer the fungus lives on your nails, the more difficult it is to treat and the worse for the whole body. Prolonged onychomycosis can provoke an allergic reaction, weaken the immune system and lead to an exacerbation of chronic diseases. Therefore, the most correct thing at the first suspicion is to consult a mycologist or dermatologist. The doctor will not only conduct an examination, assess the thickness, structure of the nail, but also make tissue scrapings for analysis. Only in this way will he be able to determine the presence of the fungus, its type and prescribe adequate treatment.
At the same time, the doctor will take into account the prevalence of the process, the form of the lesion, the presence of concomitant diseases, the rate of nail growth, etc. In our time, there are highly effective drugs of general and local action for treatment. In the initial forms of the disease, when the area of the nail lesion is insignificant, you can limit yourself to local treatment - applying to the nail bed 2 times a day an antifungal drug (antimycotic) of a wide spectrum of action in the form of an ointment, cream or solution.
Before applying the medicine, a special preparation of the nails is carried out. First, a soap and soda bath: the basin is half filled with hot water (40-50 degrees C), in which 1 tbsp is dissolved. l. soda and 50 g of laundry soap. Feet or fingers in need of treatment are immersed in the solution for 10-15 minutes. After that, the softened horny layers on the nails are treated with nail clippers and filed with a file. Duration of treatment - until healthy unchanged nails grow back.
Important! Do not use the same manicure accessories for diseased and healthy nails.
Topical drugs include clotrimazole-based drugs. They are applied to the affected nails with a dispenser and left for a day under a waterproof plaster. A day after the soap and soda bath, the affected areas of the nail are removed with a file. The procedure is repeated until the affected areas of the plate are completely removed, and then the drug is rubbed into the nail bed. Duration of treatment, as in the case of other drugs, until healthy nails grow back.
In the initial forms of lesions, special antifungal varnishes can be used for local treatment, which are applied to the nails 1-2 times a week. Treatment takes about 6-8 months for fingernails and about a year for toenails. Manicure can also be applied over the antifungal varnish.
If local treatment no longer helps or the nail plates are completely affected by the fungus, general antimycotics are prescribed (they are also called systemic). Such drugs are taken orally. They can be used in combination with antifungal varnishes. However, it is very important to make sure that you have no contraindications to general antimycotics. For example, kidney and liver diseases. Systemic drugs are often contraindicated in children, in addition, they have serious limitations in their simultaneous use with some other drugs. For example, some of them are not compatible with hormonal contraceptives. If you are breastfeeding your baby, you will have to wait a little while using these drugs.
Pregnancy also means a ban on systemic antimycotics. Therefore, women of childbearing age who receive them need to use contraception throughout the entire course of treatment. In some cases, you have to go to the removal of the nail plate, followed by treatment. After that, a new nail grows, although its surface may be uneven at first. Whatever treatment the doctor prescribes, for a while you turn into a disinfectant. The doctor will write a prescription according to which the necessary solution will be prepared for you at the pharmacy.
Before the start of the course, they will have to process all available shoes, all socks, gloves, etc. , and then, once a month, until healthy nails grow back, they need to process clothes and shoes that had to be worn during treatment. This is not difficult: the inner surface of the shoe is wiped with a cotton swab dipped in a solution, the same swab is placed in gloves, socks, stockings, etc. All this is hidden in a dense plastic bag overnight, then dried well and ventilated for 2-3 days.
So, as a result of persistent treatment, the external manifestations of the disease disappeared and finally healthy nails will grow. But that's not all, now control tests are coming at the end of treatment, after 2 weeks and after 2 months. The fungus is gone? So, everything is in order, the only question is how not to get sick again.
Risk group
In medical practice, fungal infection of the nails is denoted by the term onychomycosis, where "onycho" means a nail, and "mycosis" is a fungal infection. The disease is not as rare as it might seem. Onychomycosis is widespread in all countries of the world and its share among all nail diseases reaches 40%. The main causative agents of the disease are dermatophyte fungi (fungal parasites of the skin, hair and nails). But there are other culprits of misfortune - various yeasts and molds. Both men and women become victims of onychomycosis with equal success.
The risk of getting sick increases with age. For example, after 70 years, every second person suffers from onychomycosis. Fortunately, children suffer from onychomycosis much less often, since tissue regeneration, replacement of old with new ones, occurs very quickly. Even a baby's nails grow much faster than an adult's, while the fungus, on the contrary, develops rather slowly. And yet, it is impossible to completely exclude a child from the risk group. Children are usually infected from their parents and, oddly enough, through shoes: flaunting around the apartment in mother's shoes, the baby runs the risk of catching mother's fungus. An intact, healthy nail is practically invulnerable to fungal infection, but altered nails, for example, as a result of injury, become easy prey for the fungus.
The state of the organism as a whole plays an important role. The risk of getting sick increases if the vascular tone of the legs is disturbed, for example, with heart failure or varicose veins. The same can be said about disorders in the endocrine system. Diabetes mellitus is a good reason to vigilantly monitor the condition of your nails, because in such cases, the defeat of the fungus can be especially severe.
Flat feet and overly tight shoes contribute to skin and nail injuries. Stockings and socks made of synthetic fibers, poor ventilation in shoes create a too humid microclimate on the skin of the feet. Frequent hand contact with household detergents and cleaning products will injure your nails. All this increases the risk of getting sick, but sometimes the danger lies in the very care of your appearance: false nails can create favorable conditions for the development of onychomycosis on the hands.
Prophylaxis
To avoid trouble, you have to be careful. A visit to the pool, bathhouse, gym and even a sun-baked beach can turn into troubles. The causative agents of onychomycosis are remarkably resistant to external factors. The spores of the fungus can withstand drying, heating up to 100 and freezing up to minus 60 degrees C. They are able to survive the "attack" of disinfectants, which are usually used in public places, as a result, pose a constant threat to our health. In beach sand, fungi remain viable for months. And, it would seem, where else can you walk barefoot, if not on the beach?! This is exactly what it is unnecessary to do - there are slippers for visiting beaches and swimming pools. But most often (up to 65% of cases), infection occurs in the family. After all, you can become infected through direct contact with a sick person, through the shoes and clothes that he wears, as well as through household items, whether it is a rug in the bathroom, a common towel, nail scissors, etc. skin flakes infected with fungus. They stick easily to wet feet. Therefore, if one of the family members has this harmful "treasure", you need to be especially vigilant.
The bathtub must be thoroughly disinfected with any cleaning agent and rinsed with a stream of hot water, because loosened pieces of nails or skin flakes can remain on the surface.
A washcloth or sponge should be regularly processed in a 5% solution of chloramine (soak for at least an hour). Used linen should be boiled with washing powder for 20-30 minutes or soaked for an hour in a 5% solution of chloramine, since it is sold in the pharmacy without a prescription.
Abrasions and abrasions associated with sweating or, conversely, with dry skin, greatly facilitate the task of infection. To cope with excessive sweating and diaper rash of the feet, powder fromboric acid and talc. . .
It is useful to treat the legs with drying solutions.
To avoid excessive dryness of the skin, you can use a special ointment, vitamin-containing creams and other similar products. Use creams to prevent corns.
Compliance with simple rules will save you from illness:
- walk on the beach only in slippers;
- when visiting a bathhouse, sauna or swimming pool, use closed rubber slippers that protect against splashes;
- after washing, wipe your feet dry, especially the interdigital folds and treat them with a prophylactic antifungal cream or special powder;
- do not wear someone else's shoes;
- change socks and stockings daily.