Dealing With Fungus In Nails

Having fungus in your nails is something many people deal with most of their adult lives. Some people tend to be more prone to having fungus in nails than others are, but if left untreated it can cause you to lose your nails completely.

Nail fungus is found more often in toe nails than finger nails, because many people wear tight fitting shoes all day. Often the shoes they choose are too tight, and the feet stay moist all day because of sweat. And these are conditions fungus thrive in.

Everyone has bacteria in their body. Some bacteria is considered "good" or beneficial, and it helps us with things such as digestion and warding off viruses and infections. There are also millions of "bad" bacteria in our bodies too, and one type is known as Candida. This is a yeast-like organism which can cause nail fungus infections, plus a variety of other yeast infections on the body. Nail fungus is just another type of yeast infection.

Some people feel that having fungus in nails is just a cosmetic problem. It looks ugly and maybe you can't wear open toed shoes, but that's not a big problem in their minds. Others can't stand having fungus in nails, because it is ugly and that causes them embarrassment. The truth is though, having fungus in your nails could be a sign of more severe health problems.

If your immune system is weak due to disease or illness for instance, this can allow the yeast bacteria to thrive in your body, causing various types of yeast infections including nail fungus. Some diseases that weaken the immune system are HIV/AIDS, and Diabetes.

If you're taking certain prescription medications, this can also cause more problems with nail fungus than usual. Any medications which weaken your immune system can increase your chances of developing nail fungus problems. Antibiotics are a culprit as well, because they tend to kill all the bacteria in your body, so there are no "good" ones left to help protect you from the bad ones.

If you've had fungus in your nails for any length of time, you may have already discovered it can be quite difficult to get rid of. This is because you usually need to regrow a whole new healthy nail to replace the fungus infected one, and growing a new nail can take up to one year for some people.

In addition to the length of time it can take, nail fungus is also contagious. That means your new healthy nail can get infected anytime before the fungus is fully gone, which would make you have to start treatments all over again.

Nail fungus treatments vary widely too, and some work for one person, while not seeming to do much at all for another. There are strong prescription medications your doctor can give you to help kill the nail fungus, but those do come with some severe side effect risks. There are also a variety of over the counter creams and ointments that can sometimes help in dealing with erradicating the fungus in your nails.