Softening and grooming fungal nails are 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.
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 into 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 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 still are 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 permanently be 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.
