Got Nail Rot??

2/3/2012

Fungal nail infections are one of the most commonly presented dermatological conditions with studies showing up to 10% of us are affected!

We have all seen the adverts on TV and in our local pharmacy's for "nail rot treatments" - but what exactly is nail rot? And how effective is this treatment?

Nail rot is a marketing term, the real name is onchomycosis - an infection of the nail caused by certain types of fungus, yeasts and moulds. Toe nails are most commonly affected. The first sign is discoloration of the nail and often that goes untreated but relentlessly progresses towards our nail bed where pain and inflammation can occur and in some cases total destruction of our nail plate. Loceryl is a treatment marketed for this problem, it takes up to 12 months of treatment but has shown to be effective in only 50% of cases*.

We have recently been making a treatment for some of Brisbane's podiatrists that give better odds and take 6 weeks of treatment and costs less than Loceryl.

The treatment being prescribed is a combination of Fluconazole/ Ibuprofen/ DMSO (Dimethyl Sulphoxide) nail paint. I would like to briefly explain the ingredients.

Fluconazole- Kills yeasts, fungi and moulds that case onchomycosis. Fluconazole stays around a long time after you stop treatment, it is detectable in the nail(s) for 5 months after treatment has been ceased**.

Ibuprofen (the active ingredient in Nurofen) has been found to inhibit a mechanism of resistance that fungal cells have developed where they pump out the anti fungal treatment. Ibuprofen stops this "pump" action from working.

DMSO is a penetration enhancer, useful for pushing medications into nail***.

We recommend treating the affected nail(s) with 25% UREA cream (Eulactol heel balm) each night for 2 weeks as this softens the nail making penetration better, then commence using the Nail paint TWICE a day for 4 weeks. That's it!

At $60 (including Eulactol heel balm) this entire treatment is less expensive than Loceryl (which we sell for $75 but can cost $85 elsewhere).

If you have "Nail Rot" call us today and let us help you!

*D T Roberts, W D Taylor, J Boyle Guidelines for Treatment of Onchomyosis Oct 2002
**D Debruyne, A Coquerel Pharmacokinetics of Anti Fungal agents in Onchomyoses
***K Marren Dimethyl Sulphoxide: an effective penetration enhancer of topical administration of topical NSAIDs

Got Nail Rot??

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