A bad smell from toenails is undesirable and, for many, unattractive. Smelly feet are often socially associated with poor hygiene. It can feel embarrassing to try to determine the underlying cause. A medical issue may be underlying the scent. This is likely if you have noticed a smell that doesn’t wash off after you shower and gets worse when trimming your nails. Fungal infections are a common medical cause of smelly toenails.
Cause of the bad smell
The bad smell of the toenails is caused by fungal spores under the nail. These spores inhabit the nail bed and cause damage to the nail. Aside from the bad smell, fungal spores also affect the visual appearance of the nail. These changes can look like yellow, brown, or black spots and thickening.
If a bad smell from toenails is bothering you, you can try to determine if it is a fungus. Also, you might notice other fungal symptoms like discoloration or cracking; infection is likely. If you notice the smell is worse when you cut your nails, an infection is also likely. When you cut your nails, you can expose the fungus and intensify the smell. The fungus could also be a culprit if the smell doesn’t go away after a shower. Lastly, bad smell from fungal infections tends to smell like cheese.
Why do my nails smell?
The smell from toenail fungus infection usually smells like cheese and worsens when the nails are cut. If you have smelly toes that get worse when you cut your nails, you likely have toenail fungus. It is even more likely that you have a toenail fungus if you have other symptoms of this condition. Specifically, toenail fungus can cause a plethora of aesthetic damage to the nails’ condition.
For example, toenail fungus infection will commonly make the surface of the nail appear discolored in different ways. This discoloration normally will first appear as a small dot or stripe of color on the normal surface of the nail. This can then grow to cover a larger portion of the nail, and can even eventually discolor the whole nail. This discoloration can show up in multiple colors. The most common toenail fungus discoloration colors are white, yellow, brown, and black.
Smelly Toenails
Bad-smelling toenails are frequently caused by an infection with fungal spores. This type of infection is fairly common and is spread between people very easily. Because it is so contagious, it can be difficult to pinpoint where the fungus originated.
However, toenail fungus can infect even the cleanest of people. Because the spores are infectious organisms, they can infect any nail bed that they come into contact with. The fungus grows more easily in people with certain immune diseases, but this is a condition that can happen to anyone.
Bad-smelling toenails because of fungus are often worse in the summer as well. Because fungal spores thrive in dark, damp environments, the summer is their best time to breed and grow. During the summer, people’s shoes and socks are very sweaty and damp, allowing the fungus to thrive.
Stinky Debris Under Nails
Stinky debris under nails can be very uncomfortable and unsettling for a few reasons. For one, nobody wants their toenails or fingernails to stink. Odor like this can often be noticeable to other people. It can make others less likely to want to interact with you. This can lead to decreased quality of life by harming social relationships that you have with others.
In turn, smelly fingernails and toenails can feel isolating and even othering. Many people with this condition feel the need to avoid being barefoot. Therefore, they don’t go to the beach or pool as they normally would.
How did I get stinky nails?
Smelly feet are caused by sweat and bacterial buildup. However, when the smell comes from debris under the nails themselves, this is an indication that there may be something else wrong.
Stinky debris under fingernails and toenails is usually caused by an infection with a nail fungus. Nail fungus is a contagious condition that spreads as fungal spores are transferred from person to person. Normally, this transfer happens because of a common surface that both people touch. The floors of public pools and public locker rooms are breeding grounds for toenail fungus
Additionally, nail salons are very common for nail fungus infections to spread. The tools used for manicures and pedicures are usually used for multiple clients. This isn’t an issue when the tools are properly sanitized between clients, but if salons fail to do this, then their tools can be a vector for fungus spread.
Why did I get stinky nails?
Stinky debris under fingernails and toenails is just one of many symptoms of toenail fungus. Other symptoms of the fungus include visual changes in the nail’s surface appearance. The most common, and usually first, sign of toenail fungus is a discoloration of the nail. When a fungus first infects the nail, it will create a dot or stripe of color that can be hard to notice.
However, as the fungus grows and covers more of the nail, the discoloration will start to become more apparent. It is usually at this point that other changes in the nail start to happen as well. The nail can start to become brittle, hard, and even lift from the nail bed. It can start to appear like there are multiple nails growing on top of each other, or the nail can just become thickened.
Managing Debris under Nails
Simply cleaning the stinky debris under fingernails and toenails usually isn’t enough to remove the smell. This is because the fungal organisms are still under the nail and will still emit their smell. Doing this could also pose a risk of transferring the infection to other nails on the same foot since the debris likely contains fungal spores.
To completely eliminate the smell from your toenails once and for all, you will need to receive treatment from a licensed podiatrist. Because they are doctors who specialize in treating conditions of the foot and ankle, they will be able to provide specialized care for toenail fungus infections.
Symptoms of Toenail Fungus
As the fungus grows, the smell becomes stronger and stronger. Additionally, the smell itself is exacerbated by the heat of summer. Heat tends to make scents stronger, so the cheesy smell under your toes will be worse on a hot summer day.
To determine if your bad-smelling toenails are from a fungal infection or from something else, there are a few things you can examine. First of all, if the smell originates from the nail bed and not the skin of the foot, this is a sign that a toenail fungus could be the cause. Make sure to wash your feet well every day in the shower, and see if the smell improves.
If it doesn’t, a fungus could be the reason why. Washing your feet isn’t sufficient to remove the fungus from under the nail bed, so the fungal smell will persist despite cleaning practices. Lastly, take note of whether the smell gets worse when you cut your toenails. Because the fungus lives under the nail, trimming the nails can cause fungal debris to enter the environment.
Other Toenail Fungus Symptoms
Bad-smelling toenails also usually come alongside other symptoms of toenail fungus. This condition is largely aesthetic and causes changes in the nail’s texture and color. These changes can range from subtle variations to drastic, extreme changes. Usually, fungal toenails will have some sort of discoloration.
This can be yellow, brown, white, or black in color and usually starts out as a small dot or stripe on the nail’s surface. As the nail fungus infection becomes more severe, the dots and stripes will start to grow on the surface of the nail until the entire nail is covered in discoloration.
Treatment Options
While trying options like deodorant can be helpful for temporary relief of the smell, to permanently deal with the issue, you need to treat the root cause. However, eliminating the fungus from under your nail bed can be a tricky, often frustrating journey to embark on. Many common treatment options for fungus are ineffective, and using them can feel disheartening.
Particularly ineffective are over-the-counter topical medications for fungus. While prescriptions are slightly more effective, they still sometimes require up to a year to see any results, if they come at all. Oral antifungal medications prescribed by doctors are more effective than topical medications but come with severe risks. These medications have to pass through the blood to get into the nail bed and, in the process, pass through the liver.
They can cause damage to the liver in the process, which can be especially dangerous for people with pre-existing conditions affecting liver function. These medications also require blood screenings before and during treatment, which is another downside.
Treatment options for the bad smell from toenails
The bad smell under your toenails can’t be treated at home. To get this issue cured, you need to be seen by a licensed podiatrist. They are the best doctors to treat fungal toenail infections because they specialize in the foot and ankle.
Medical treatment for a bad smell from fungus comes in different forms. The safest available is the PinPointe laser, which has no side effects or downtime. This is a huge benefit when compared to other treatments for fungus. Additionally, the laser only requires one treatment to cure the condition. To schedule a consultation with a licensed podiatrist at over 150 clinics nationwide, give us a call at 1-(800) 672-0625 or visit our website for more information.
