12 Welles Street, Sandbach,
Cheshire, CW11 1GT
01270 76 77 44
Fungal Nails & Skin
Humans play host to a variety of microorganisms and the skin on our feet house around 100 types of fungi. These usually live-in perfect harmony, but are known as ‘opportunistic fungi’ meaning that they are loitering around waiting for the perfect opportunity to dominate the area of skin that has become perfect for breeding.
Unfortunately for us, the perfect environment for breeding is dark, warm and ideally moist, for example inside a sock or shoe. Add to this a minor trauma for example a crack in the skin or a damaged nail and there you have it, a visible fungal infection.
On the skin this is known as Athletes Foot (Tinea Pedis) and when the skin under the nail becomes infected, we call it a fungal nail (Onychomycosis). Onychomycosis can cause thickened, unsightly and sometimes painful nails in a variety of colours ranging from white to yellow and brown.
Athletes Foot generally responds well to topical treatments from the chemist. Follow the instructions to the letter and if one product doesn’t clear it up, try another brand.
Fungal nails are a bit trickier especially if the infection has reached the cuticle. Be prepared to treat until the affected nail grows out. A big toenail can take more than a year to completely regrow.
If you are having no luck using topical treatments, Stride Clinic can help. We offer a treatment plan that uses a condition dependent blend of nail reduction, thinning and fenestration, combined with a selected topical treatment. Nails are photographed and scored and this process is repeated every six weeks. We categorise our patients into Category A, B or C based on the number of infected nails and this dictates the time slot and charge.
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Before we embark on a treatment plan, we may need to test your toenail, to be sure that a fungal infection is present and not a damaged, thick or discoloured nail. We offer a 5 Minute Fungal Nail Test (for an additional charge) to help our diagnoses and allow us to develop a treatment plan.