Fungal nail infection is a serious medical and social problem.
The pathogen is stable in the external environment and is easily transmitted from person to person.
If you detect the disease in time, you can protect yourself, your family members and others from infection.
In order to understand when consultation with a qualified doctor is necessary, it does not hurt to know what nail fungus looks like.
There are many types of mushrooms.
Many of them can cause nail diseases.
The common name for this unpleasant sore is onychomycosis.
What specific fungi cause the development of onychomycosis is called the disease.
What does nail fungus look like: types of diseases
The most common are:
- Athlete's foot.
- Rubrophytia.
- Trichophytosis.
- Favus.
- Candidiasis.
The causes of each of these diseases affect not only the nails, but also the skin and hair.
Therefore, if any changes appear in the body, even those that are small at first glance, it is better to see a doctor.
Perhaps this will help to determine the beginning of the disease and stop the spread of the infection.
Athlete's foot
Interestingly, when the disease occurs in the nails, the first and fifth toes are most affected.
It is not known why Muncius chose it.
First of all, the appearance of the nail changes:
- Pink color gives way to yellowish.
- The surface becomes dull and loses its healthy shine.
- Thickenings and tubercles appear on the plate.
- It develops under dense growths (hyperkeratosis).
- Black-colored spots or streaks appear in the thickness of the nail.
The shape of the nail itself lasts for a very long time - several weeks or even months.
The free edge is gradually destroyed.
It seems to be corroded, uneven.
Another feature of athlete's foot is that the disease develops only on the feet.
The same picture shows how Dockerail mushrooms look like in hands.
If so, this is not athlete's foot.
Rubrophytia
In this case, onychomycosis is caused by a fungus called Trichophyton Red.
There are three forms of the disease:
- Normotrophic form.
- Hypertrophic.
- Atrophic variety.
In the normotrophic form of onychomycosis, the nail plate does not collapse for a long time.
White or yellow streaks (leukonychia) appear in the thickness.
At first they are separated from each other, but gradually they converge to one point.
In the typical course of the disease, the border under the nail remains unchanged.
Hypertrophic nail rubrophytosis proceeds differently.
The record is dull at first and shines.
It thickens due to growths (hyperkeratosis) underneath.
The nail takes a beak-like shape and falls off easily.
And this only applies to the free edge.
The long duration of the disease gives the nails a resemblance to bird claws - onychogryphosis.
Atrophic form is also special.
The nail becomes dull and dirty gray in color.
In a very short time, the nail plate becomes thin and destroyed.
On the edges, in the nail layer, the nail tissue remains, but it can disappear.
Trichophytosis
This fungus causes the disease of the entire surface of the skin.
Onychomycosis develops only in half of the patients, and the nails of the hands are affected.
The initial stage of nail fungus, which looks similar to trichophytosis, does not allow us to make an accurate diagnosis due to the presence of similarities with other myxons.
The surface of the nail plate becomes dull and gray.
Over time, the nail becomes brittle and collapses.
In some cases, it can even be removed from the bed.
The process is long and may take several years.
Favus
The synonym of this pathology is itching.
Children rarely get sick.
The disease has a long, chronic course.
The causative agents are several fungi of the genus Trichophyton.
First, due to subungual keratosis, the plate thickens and moves away from the nail bed.
At the same time, it begins to collapse.
You can observe one yellow point - scutula - in one of its thickness.
It gradually acquires a dirty color.
The death of the nail occurs several months after the onset of the disease.
The process is usually accompanied by other manifestations of hair and skin.
Candidiasis
The causative agent of this infection normally lives in the human body and on mucous membranes.
Activation of the infection leads to the appearance of systemic lesions that can spread to the nails.
There may be reasons for this
- I. Uncontrolled use of antibiotics.
- II. states of immunophilia.
- III.Taking hormonal drugs.
- Iv.Treatment with cytostatics.
- V. Hypovitaminosis.
Hands and feet are affected with equal frequency.
Visually, it is difficult to confuse nail fungus with other diseases at the initial stage with a yeast infection.
The nail plate turns brown and becomes bumpy due to streaks and depressions.
White spots appear on its surface and thickness.
They are loose and can be easily removed from the nail (if they are superficial).
The nail itself moves away from the nail bed, cools.
In the cuticle area, cheesy layers are also visible.
It becomes red and inflamed.
Mixed areas are also affected.