So you’ve reached part three of the Home Treatment for Toenail Fungus articles. You’ve gone far indeed. But now brace yourselves. We are going to enter… The fungus den! Creepy isn’t it? Okay. Enough with the theatrics. Let’s see what places that they like to hang out in.
Okay, in the last article, we discussed the two families, the Dermatophytes and the Candida gang. Dermatophytes like to hang out with animals. You can say that’s their main base. Candida gang, on the other hand prefer to stay grounded, which means, they love living in the soil. This poses a number of problems. First of all, you can get nail fungus by not wearing proper footwear in places intended for public use. Public bathrooms are the most common place to get them. It’s moist enough for them to grow.
Other things that you should watch out for is the length of your nails. Yes, you heard me. The space between your nail plate and your toe, for instance, could be humid enough if not dried properly. Hence, the gang would love to move there. Proper thing to do is to keep your feet and hands clean with soap and water. One other thing, the most important part. DRY them properly. They really love humid places rich with moistures.
Other places they like to hang out in is your socks. This is especially true if the socks do not absorb water. The water is trapped, hard to dry and causes the place to be a perfect hang out place for the guys. Research says that the best material for socks that you can wear if you have onychomycosis is cotton and wool socks. They absorb water.
Shoes is also one of their dwellings. Shoes that does not ‘breathe’ (meaning they have pores for air circulation) are places that have high possibility for them to grow and expand. That is why, one of the first step of treating onychomycosis is to inspect your shoes and socks, hence eliminating the chance of a relapse in the future.
Manicure and pedicure tools are also things to watch out for. They should be disinfected after use. This prevents the guys to get a chance to grow there. Do not apply nail polish to nails that are infected. Yeah, I know, it’s unsightly and some nail polish could help mask them. But seriously, don’t. This causes the water that gathers under the the nail to be trapped, they can’t be evaporated. As you remember, moisture equals fungus den, so you have to take notice.
That’s about it. The key is moisture, if you remember it, you should be fine.