Showing posts with label thick toenails. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thick toenails. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Update on the Latest Information on Fungal Nails
Thick, yellow, crumbly toenails are so common that we either all have them, or know someone who does. Based on the most recent studies, the numbers are somewhere between 2-20% of the population that is affected by nail fungus. We do know that genetics has a lot to do with whether or not you will have nail fungus. We also know that diabetics have a higher rate of nail fungus than those without diabetes. Increasing age and trauma to the nails also raises your risk for exposure to nail fungus.
There are 3 options for treating nail fungus.
The first option is to use topical antifungal medications that are applied to the nail like nail polish, daily. Until very recently topical medications have been only mildly affective. We at Sarasota Foot Care Center are proud to announce the arrival of a new topical medication that is said to be a revolution in topical treatments for nail fungus. The medication is called FFN. It is a combination of some of the most potent antifungal medications available in a perfectly safe, clear liquid formulation. There is no smell, no thick residue and a small bottle will last about 4 months. The cost for this small bottle is $36. In most cases 2-3 bottles will be needed for the entire treatment. It takes about a year for nails to fully grow out and that is how long the nail must be treated topically.
FFN is available without prescription in medical practitioners’ offices. The manufacturer of FFN is so confident that it will work that there is a 100% money back guarantee! Yes, you read that right. If for whatever reason you are unhappy with the product or the results you simply contact the company and tell them the date you purchased the medication, the doctor you purchased it from, how much you paid and your shipping address. A refund will be mailed to you in 45 days. We at Sarasota Foot Care Center have never seen a guarantee like this and we are very excited to provide such a superior product to our patients. Now you have nothing to lose…except for those ugly toenails.
The second option to treat nail fungus is an oral pill called Lamisil. This pill is now available in a generic form, called Terbinifine. In the generic form the cost of the medication drops from about $1000 to $15. Terbinifine is available at Wal-mart for $15 with or without insurance. The treatment consists of taking one pill a day for 90 days. Prior to taking the prescribed medication you will need to have a blood test to check your liver enzymes. Terbinifine is flushed through your liver, just like almost every other medication. If you take several medications already or you have a history of liver disease, you may not be allowed to take this pill. Your doctor will be able to tell you if you are a good candidate for this treatment. The good news about Terbinifine is that it is inexpensive, very easy to take and has a reported 85% effectiveness. The down side is that many people are not able to take the medication. Understand that if you do take the medication it is only for 90 days but the nail will still have to grow out for about a year. This treatment is not faster in any way than the topical treatment. All treatments take about a year because the growth rate of the nail is what dictates the time it takes for the nail to appear normal again.
The third option to treat nail fungus is the nail laser. Laser is really a fancy term that means light. Essentially a laser is a specific form of focused light. In this case, some brilliant scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used light to kill nail fungus while not harming nail or skin tissue. The nail laser is perfectly safe for anyone regardless of medications, age or overall health. The laser treatments are done in the comfort of our Waldemere office. The treatments take between 15 and 60 minutes depending on the number of nails involved. Based on the severity of your nail fungus you will receive 3 or 4 treatments spread out over a few months. The laser has a reported success rate of 85% without any of the risk factors of the oral medication. The only reason the laser therapy has not completely replaced the other therapies is cost. If you can afford the nail laser it is without a doubt the best, safest, most effective treatment for nail fungus. The cost of the nail laser depends on the number of nails involved and ranges from $600-$1400. Unfortunately this cost is not covered by any health insurances.
After taking in all of this information you have to discuss with your doctor what the best approach for you would be. One size does not fit all. If the cost of the laser is not an impediment, the laser treatment is the best option. If cost is a factor, you have to decide if you are eligible to take the oral medication and if you want to take a pill even if you are allowed to take it. If you can’t take the pill or just don’t want to, the topical medication is your best option.
Regardless of which option you chose it is critical that you treat this fungal infection. If left untreated nail fungus will get worse, it will spread and it can cause fungal infection of the skin. Remember that all treatments are just that, treatments not cures. There is no cure for this infection just as there is no cure for any infection. You may have a re-infection if you don’t take steps to prevent it. These steps consist of use of topical antifungal creams to the skin and antifungal sprays to the shoes once the fungus is cleared from the nails. Treating nail fungus is a challenge but with the tools that are available to us today we can free you of this uncomfortable and often embarrassing condition. The treatments take a while to work so you had better get started today!
Committed to your health,
Dr. Craig Conti
Sarasota Foot Care Center
www.sarasotafootcarecenter.com
Friday, October 1, 2010
The Truths and Lies About Nail Fungus
Do you remember the Lamisil commercials with the yellow little creature that lived under the toenails? The ad campaign was very popular and the little yellow creature was called Digger the dermatophyte. A dermatophyte is a fungus that lives on skin or nails and if you have thick, yellow, crumbly toenails than you have dermatophytes living on your nails right now.
There are millions of Americans who suffer with nail fungus. It is embarrassing and sometimes painful but there are solutions for this disease. My job in this article is to sift through all the information that is out there and separate the facts from the fiction.
First off, who gets nail fungus? Anyone with nails. Men and women are equally at risk. There is no bias based on race. Why does it seem like older people have more nail fungus? The reason is because the longer you live the longer your nails are exposed to nail fungus. You don't have to be a senior citizen to have nail fungus. I treat many people in their 20's and 30's with the condition.
What causes nail fungus? The truth is that nail fungus is genetic. Our genes determine so many things about us, height, hair color and susceptibility to certain infections. The people whose genes just so happen to have difficulty killing this fungus are the ones that ultimately wind up with the infection. Make no mistake, nail fungus is an infection. It is caused by the same fungus that causes athlete's foot.
OK, so what doesn't cause nail fungus? Pedicures, high heeled shoes and nail polish have all been implicated in the cause of nail fungus. This is simply not true. The vast majority of men have never had a pedicure, worn high heels or used nail polish and yet men are just as likely to have nail fungus as women.
What doesn't treat nail fungus? Vick's vapor rub, bleach, Epsom salt, vinegar and just about any other household cleaning product have been discussed as treatments to nail fungus. This is absolute fiction. I don't care what Dr. Oz or Oprah says. There has never been a study to prove than any of these cleaners do anything to nail fungus. I know, but you heard that a guy at work had a friend that had a sister-in-law that used Vick's on her nails and it worked like a charm. Trust me; if any of these products really worked they would be marketed as such. I am a foot doctor that treats this stuff every day and even when we use FDA approved topical medications on nail fungus the rate of improvement is less than 25%.
This leads me to the final question, what does treat nail fungus? As I said, there is an FDA approved topical medication and it is called Ciclopirox. It must be applied every day for a year and it has about a 15-25% rate of improvement. You could take Lamisil pills, now generic and called Terbinifine, once a day for 90 days. The drug is filtered through your liver, just like most drugs, so you must have a simple screening blood test prior to starting the medication to make sure your liver is healthy. This therapy has about a 75% rate of improvement. The final therapy is light therapy or Laser therapy. This treatment consists of amplified light applied to the nail to kill the fungus. The treatment is painless, it takes 15 minutes for 3 sessions and it does not interact with any medications at all. It is the safest therapy available. This light therapy is the newest on the market and unfortunately is not covered by insurances. The cost is between $600 and $1300 depending on the number of nails affected. The rate of improvement is 85% which makes it the most effective treatment available.
Whether you need topical treatments, pills or the new laser is up to you and your foot doctor to decide, but at least now you know the truths and the lies about nail fungus.
Committed to your health,
Dr. Craig Conti
Sarasota Foot Care Center
http://www.sarasotafootcarecenter.com
There are millions of Americans who suffer with nail fungus. It is embarrassing and sometimes painful but there are solutions for this disease. My job in this article is to sift through all the information that is out there and separate the facts from the fiction.
First off, who gets nail fungus? Anyone with nails. Men and women are equally at risk. There is no bias based on race. Why does it seem like older people have more nail fungus? The reason is because the longer you live the longer your nails are exposed to nail fungus. You don't have to be a senior citizen to have nail fungus. I treat many people in their 20's and 30's with the condition.
What causes nail fungus? The truth is that nail fungus is genetic. Our genes determine so many things about us, height, hair color and susceptibility to certain infections. The people whose genes just so happen to have difficulty killing this fungus are the ones that ultimately wind up with the infection. Make no mistake, nail fungus is an infection. It is caused by the same fungus that causes athlete's foot.
OK, so what doesn't cause nail fungus? Pedicures, high heeled shoes and nail polish have all been implicated in the cause of nail fungus. This is simply not true. The vast majority of men have never had a pedicure, worn high heels or used nail polish and yet men are just as likely to have nail fungus as women.
What doesn't treat nail fungus? Vick's vapor rub, bleach, Epsom salt, vinegar and just about any other household cleaning product have been discussed as treatments to nail fungus. This is absolute fiction. I don't care what Dr. Oz or Oprah says. There has never been a study to prove than any of these cleaners do anything to nail fungus. I know, but you heard that a guy at work had a friend that had a sister-in-law that used Vick's on her nails and it worked like a charm. Trust me; if any of these products really worked they would be marketed as such. I am a foot doctor that treats this stuff every day and even when we use FDA approved topical medications on nail fungus the rate of improvement is less than 25%.
This leads me to the final question, what does treat nail fungus? As I said, there is an FDA approved topical medication and it is called Ciclopirox. It must be applied every day for a year and it has about a 15-25% rate of improvement. You could take Lamisil pills, now generic and called Terbinifine, once a day for 90 days. The drug is filtered through your liver, just like most drugs, so you must have a simple screening blood test prior to starting the medication to make sure your liver is healthy. This therapy has about a 75% rate of improvement. The final therapy is light therapy or Laser therapy. This treatment consists of amplified light applied to the nail to kill the fungus. The treatment is painless, it takes 15 minutes for 3 sessions and it does not interact with any medications at all. It is the safest therapy available. This light therapy is the newest on the market and unfortunately is not covered by insurances. The cost is between $600 and $1300 depending on the number of nails affected. The rate of improvement is 85% which makes it the most effective treatment available.
Whether you need topical treatments, pills or the new laser is up to you and your foot doctor to decide, but at least now you know the truths and the lies about nail fungus.
Committed to your health,
Dr. Craig Conti
Sarasota Foot Care Center
http://www.sarasotafootcarecenter.com
Friday, September 24, 2010
Do You Have Thick, Yellow, Ugly Toenails?
If you are one of the 35 million Americans that have thick, yellow, ugly toenails than this information is for you. A new and exciting treatment option is finally available. No more will you have to hide your toenails. No more will you have to take a pill that may interact with other medicines and must be filtered through your liver.
Now the Noveon Laser has entered the market. A recent study published in a major podiatric medical journal reports 85% improvement in appearance of nails 6 months after treatment. The laser is safe, painless and takes as little as 3 separate 15 minute sessions, spread out over 2 months. Just like any technological breakthrough the Noveon Laser is not covered by medical insurance. The cost of treatment depends on the number of toenails involved and the severity of the infection. To give you an estimate of the cost, it ranges from $600-$1400. Remember that Lamisil pills used to cost over $1000 dollars and topical treatments cost several hundred dollars over the course of the year, not to mention the time and aggravation.
For years people have been clamoring for a new and effective treatment to this embarrassing condition and now it has arrived. Be one of the first to have your nail fungus safely, effectively and painlessly treated with the most modern of technologies.
Committed to your health,
Dr. Craig Conti
Sarasota Foot Care Center
http://www.sarasotafootcarecenter.com
Now the Noveon Laser has entered the market. A recent study published in a major podiatric medical journal reports 85% improvement in appearance of nails 6 months after treatment. The laser is safe, painless and takes as little as 3 separate 15 minute sessions, spread out over 2 months. Just like any technological breakthrough the Noveon Laser is not covered by medical insurance. The cost of treatment depends on the number of toenails involved and the severity of the infection. To give you an estimate of the cost, it ranges from $600-$1400. Remember that Lamisil pills used to cost over $1000 dollars and topical treatments cost several hundred dollars over the course of the year, not to mention the time and aggravation.
For years people have been clamoring for a new and effective treatment to this embarrassing condition and now it has arrived. Be one of the first to have your nail fungus safely, effectively and painlessly treated with the most modern of technologies.
Committed to your health,
Dr. Craig Conti
Sarasota Foot Care Center
http://www.sarasotafootcarecenter.com
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