Softening and grooming fungal nails is an essential part of toenail maintenance when your nails are infected. Toenail infections can manifest in a variety of ways, which can have both functional and aesthetic consequences. It is important to understand these signs and symptoms for a few reasons. One, identifying toenail fungus early can help aid in the sometimes frustrating treatment process. Because fungus grows quickly, the earlier you receive treatment for it, the better. Additionally, understanding the cause of your concerns can help maintain the condition of your nails while you are waiting to receive treatment or see results.
Why Softening and Grooming Fungal Nails is important
Softening And Grooming Fungal Nails is one of the most important parts of fungal nail maintenance. The changes a fungal infection causes in the nail often include aesthetic differences in appearance, which can be annoying and unpleasant. However, the functional changes a toenail fungus can cause are more urgent than those. Toenail fungus is notorious for making the nails hard and thick. When the nails are in this condition, they can become more difficult to maintain. Specifically, the nails become difficult to trim and clip as you normally would.
Nail hygiene is an important part of general hygiene practices. Toenail hygiene includes regularly washing the toes to remove dirt, grime, and other things from underneath the nail. Trimming the nails is also an essential part of nail hygiene. When the toenails aren’t trimmed regularly, they can become excessively long. Long toenails can become uncomfortable and unsightly. The nails can start to push up against your shoes as you walk, which can be a cause of pain and discomfort. Additionally, the nails can start to curl underneath your toe, causing more issues. When the nails get excessively long, they can start to irritate the skin of the toe. The nails are also more prone to breakage, potentially creating sharp edges that could form an ingrown toenail.
How to Safely Share Nail Tools
When nail grooming tools are used on fungal nails, microscopic fungal spores can attach to the surface of the tool. They can then infect anybody who uses the tools afterward. Toenail fungus is very contagious, so once this contamination occurs, it will spread quickly to anyone sharing the tools.
The best way to avoid this is to have individual nail grooming tools for each person and not share them at all. Since the fungus can be invisible under the nails, this is the most cautious way to avoid ever-spreading fungus. If you must share nail tools, you should disinfect them between each use. There are a few ways to do this. One way is to carefully boil the nail tools and then disinfect them with rubbing alcohol. Another method involves soaking the tools in a dilute solution of bleach (at least 9 parts water to 1 part bleach). This method should be done carefully, since inhaling bleach fumes can be damaging.
Nail maintenance
Trimming fungal toenails is essential for their maintenance. However, this is often impossible for people to do because of the condition of their toes. This is because the symptoms of toenail fungus can make trimming the nails difficult. When nails become excessively thick, it can be hard to even get your nail clippers to fit around the nail. Thickened nails are also mechanically more difficult to cut since the nail clippers have to slice through more nail material. Finally, the nail fungus can actually cause the toenails to become more hardened than normal. This means that even if the toenail is the same thickness as normal, the nail can still be more difficult to cut.
Softening fungal toenails is, therefore, an important step of their maintenance. The good news is that this isn’t hard to do at home. In fact, some of the most effective nail softening techniques can be done very easily with just a few basic ingredients. The best thing to do if you have hardened or thickened toenails is to soak them regularly in a bath of warm water. The purpose of this is for the toenails to absorb the water and become easier to cut. Simply fill a bathtub or other container with enough warm water to submerge your feet, and let them sit for 20-40 minutes. To enhance the experience, you can add Epsom salts to the water. If you would like to make the experience even more enjoyable, try lighting a candle or reading a book in the meantime. This will make the softening process something you can even learn to enjoy!
Nail Salons
Professional salons use a few different methods to sterilize nail tools between uses. Barbicide is a liquid disinfectant that can be used to clean nail tools. UV Light can also be used to eliminate fungi and bacteria on the surface of tools. Any nail salon you go to should clearly sanitize its tools between customers.
Importance of Grooming and Softening
The importance of grooming and softening is essential. The maintenance is for infected toenails with fungal spores. Toenail fungus infections can have both functional and aesthetic consequences. Understanding these signs and symptoms is important and helpful for a few reasons.
For example, being able to identify toenail fungus early on helps the treatment process. Because fungus grows quickly, the earlier you receive treatment for it, the better. Additionally, understanding the cause of your concerns can help maintain the condition of your nails while you are waiting to receive treatment or see results.
Important Factors of Grooming
Fungal grooming and softening are arguably some of the most important parts of fungal nail maintenance. Fungal infections often cause changes to the nail that include aesthetic differences in appearance, which can be annoying and unpleasant.
While these can be annoying, the functional changes a toenail fungus can cause are usually more urgent. Toenail fungus can often make the nails hard and thick. In this condition, the nails can become much more difficult to maintain. Particularly, the nails become difficult to trim and clip as you normally would.
Important Factors of Softening Toenails
The importance of grooming and softening is a big part of regular hygiene. Regular toenail hygiene should include regularly washing the toes to wash away dirt, grime, and other bad things from the nail. Trimming the nails is also essential to proper nail hygiene. When the toenails aren’t trimmed regularly, they become excessively long. Long toenails are both uncomfortable and unsightly.
At long lengths, the nails can start to push up against your shoes as you walk, which can be a cause of pain and discomfort. Additionally, the nails can even start to curl underneath your toe, which is aesthetically displeasing and can cause more issues. Very long nails can also start to irritate the skin of the toe. Nails are also more prone to breakage when they are very long, which can potentially create sharp edges that could form an ingrown toenail.
Why is it important to groom and soften toenails?
Grooming and softening are essential for the maintenance of fungal toenails. Unfortunately, the condition of the fungal toenails can make this impossible. When nails become excessively thick, it can be hard to even get your nail clippers to fit around the nail. Thickened nails tend to be mechanically more difficult to cut because the nail clippers have to be able to cut through a larger amount of nail material.
Additionally, the nail fungus can actually cause the toenails to become more hardened than normal. Even if the toenail is the same thickness as normal, nails that are hardened because of fungus can still be more difficult to cut.
The importance of grooming and softening is essential maintenance. This isn’t hard to do at home, which is good news. Actually, many highly effective nail softening techniques can be done very easily at home with just a few basic steps and ingredients. The best at-home treatment to do if you have hardened or thickened toenails is simply soaking them regularly in a bath of warm water.
How to Groom and Soften
This treatment allows the toenails to absorb the water and become easier to cut. The steps for this treatment are simple: fill a bathtub or other container with enough warm water to submerge your feet, and let them sit for 20-40 minutes.
You can add Epsom salts to the water, which will enhance the softening experience. To make the experience even more enjoyable, try lighting a candle or reading a book in the meantime. This will make the softening process something you can even learn to enjoy!
After grooming and softening fungal toenails in warm water, they should be much easier to cut through. Immediately after you finish the foot soak, you should try trimming your toenails again. You can repeat the soaking process the next day until your nails are soft enough to cut; if they aren’t soft enough the first time. You increase the amount of time your nails have to soften by repeating the process over a few days.
Nail Cutting made easier
After softening fungal toenails in warm water, they should be much easier to trim. Immediately after the foot soak, try trimming your toenails again. If they are still too hard to trim, you should repeat the soaking process the next day until your nails are soft enough to cut. By repeating the process over a few days, you increase the amount of time your nails have to soften. However, this process won’t be effective for everybody with hard, thick toenails. Sometimes, other measures are necessary to groom the nails properly. If your nails aren’t extremely thick but are very hard and resistant to softening, you can try using a softening cream on them as well. This will help soften the nail further. If your nails are too thick to fit into your nail clippers, you will likely need to be seen by a podiatrist. For this case, debridement performed by a medical professional can help thin down the nails. This is usually followed by antifungal treatment.
Getting rid of nail fungus permanently
Softening fungal toenails can only be permanently done with an FDA-approved treatment administered by a licensed podiatrist. To avoid needing to soak your feet every time you trim them for the rest of your life, you will need to eliminate the root cause of the hardening and thickening. The best treatment available is the PinPointe laser, which typically requires only one treatment to eliminate the fungus. After this treatment, a new healthy nail will grow behind the old damaged one. This new nail will be softer and easier to cut. To schedule a consultation with a licensed podiatrist for the PinPointe laser, give us a call at 1-(800) 672-0625 or visit our website for more information.
