Medical Questions » Fungal Infections Questions » Question No. 411
| Question: | I have thick brown fingernails that my doctor thinks is a fungal infection. She has sent nail clippings away to be investigated. Can you tell me more about this problem? |
| Answer: | Tinea unguium (also known as onychogryphosis when severe) is the notoriously difficult-to-treat fungal infection that occurs under finger and toenails. It is more common in the middle-aged and elderly.
The nails appear white or yellow and gradually thicken and infections may persist for many years, particularly in toenails, which are usually more severely affected than the fingers.
In the mid-1990s, two new treatments became available to cure this condition. Loceryl paint is an expensive lacquer which is applied to the nail weekly for many months, and gradually penetrates the nail to kill the fungus. Lamisil tablets are even more expensive, but faster at penetrating the nail through the bloodstream and curing the infection. In both cases, as the fungus is destroyed, new normal nail gradually grows out to replace the thick damaged nail.
Lamisil tablets are subsidised by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme if the fungal infection can be seen in nail clippings under a microscope, or the fungus can be cultured and grown from clippings (a process which may take six weeks).
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