Before we go any further, we should talk about just what toenail fungus is. The medical term for toenail fungus is Onychomycosis but the common term, toenail fungus, does a fine job of describing what this infection is all about. The fungus in particular is a dermatophyte. Derma refers to skin and phyte refers to a plant/fungus with a particular environmental preference. And so you have a fungus that likes skin. While sufficient to describe the fungus, its feeding preference is actually keratin, the hard substance that makes up your toenails.
Onychomycosis is a fungal infection of the toenails or fingernails. It is less common to get the infection under the fingernails due to their faster growth rate and exposure to open air. Like most fungi, this variety prefers warm, dark, damp locations and our feet, often hidden away in the humid environment of shoes, provide a perfect atmosphere in which the spores can thrive.
The fungus responsible for the infection is not topical. That is to say, the infection does not live on top of the nail but grows under the nail in the nail bed. This fact, combined with the heartiness of these fungi, makes toenail fungus particularly challenging to treat. Topical treatments must be absorbed through the nail to get to the source of the infection.
Treatments which do work are sometimes mistakenly thought to fail because, once their use is stopped, the infection often returns. This is less a comment on the particular product than on our tendency to stop using the products as soon as we think the treatment has been effective. It is often advisable to continue treatment for some time even after you think the infection has been beaten as it only takes a few surviving microscopic spores to colonize.
Coming up next we’ll discuss how people contract toenail fungus. Not that you’d want to, but prevention is the best medicine here, so we should review what you’re up against.