Have you ever seen your friends nail that is brittle and shiny? You might ashamed to show your nails that harbor fungus. This may cause unsightly appearance of your nails. Once the nail fungus gain its entry into the nail plate, making it very difficult to get rid of. Deformed, thick and discolored toenails characterize toenail fungus.
Most of nail fungus sufferers are cracking their heads to find out the answer for the question "Is nail fungus contagious?" The answer is YES! Now you might aware that nail fungus is contagious. So once if you are suffering from any kind of nail fungus, do refrain from sharing things like towels, clippers, slippers and other hygiene related items with anyone else in your family.
Do ensure that proper hygiene is maintained till you will get complete cure of nail fungus infection. My son ended up getting fungus in one of his fingernail while accidentally using my nail clipper!
Sometimes nail fungus is so common that finding more than one person in a household who has it is hardly more than a coincidence.
In general, topical medications and other creams are usually not effective against nail fungus. Hence a new medicated nail lacquer ciclopirox (Penlac) topical solution has been extensively used in the treatment of nail fungus.
Treatment
The common oral medications used for treating nail fungus include Griseofulvin, Terbinafine, Itraconazole, and Fluconazole.
Griseofulvin
For many years this drug has been used for fungal infections. But the effective against nail fungus is obscure. This drug is safer than other drugs. This is available in different trade names- Gris-Peg, Gifulvin, Fulvicin.
Fluconazole
This is available as Diflucan. This is administered once in a week for several months. If the patient eperience impaired kidney function, the dosage of the drug may be reduced.
Itraconazole
This drug can be used along with other drugs including antibiotics-erythromycin, or certain allergic medications. This drug is taken weekly per month for 2 or 3 months. This is available as Sporanox.
Terbinafine
This drug is often prescribed daily for 12 weeks for toenail fungus and 8 weeks for fingernail fungus. The safety margin of this drug is high. It is found to be more effective with fewer side effects. This available as LAMISIL in the pharmacy and is available against prescription.
The only effective treatment for chronic nail fungus, which does not respond to oral treatment, is to remove the toenail permanently. This will help in the prevention of pain you might have and recurring bacterial infections (as it is contagious, it may spread to neighbors).
Although this surgical treatment sounds extreme, but provide you the permanent remedy for your chronic problem. Do discuss with this procedure with your podiatrist. This procedure is called matrixectomy.
You should abstain from all alcohol beverages while you're taking any one of these anti-fungal medicines, because the combination can be hard on your liver. Patients with liver or heart disease generally should not take these medications.
*TreatNailFungus.org recommends This resource for information on fast and comprehensive treatment of your toenail fungus with home remedies.
