Onychomycosis is a fungal infection of the finger or toe nails which is very difficult to cure caused by:
Onychomycosis is caused by a fungus. Often a person has had athlete's foot for a long time prior to the development of onychomycosis.
Sometimes trauma or damage to a nail predisposes to the development of onychomycosis.
Once fungus gets into the nails, it is very difficult to treat.
Onychomycosis of the finger nails can be treated by taking pills called griseofulvin. The pills must be taken for six months to one year and have side effects. These include headaches, nausea, and rare reversible liver damage. You can not drink alcohol if you are taking griseofulvin. A course of treatment costs approximately $350 and has a 50-70% chance of curing the condition.
A new medication, terbinafine, is now available for the treatment of toe and finger nail fungal infections. Terbinafine is taken once a day for 6 to 12 weeks. This medication has less side effects than griseofulvin.
If you do not want to try to cure the condition you can control onychomycosis and improve the appearance of the nails by brushing on FDA approved undecylenic acid.
Removal of the nail will not get rid of onychomycosis. When the new nail grows in, it almost always becomes reinfected.