When you have a fungal toenail infection, there are basically two options for dealing with it:
- Hide it, try to forget about it, and let the fungus build its fortress among the ruins of your crumbling nails.
- Fight the fungus head on!
We hope you choose the second option as soon as possible. The sooner you take action against your fungal toenails, the faster and more effectively you are likely to see results! Choosing option one simply allows the fungus to grow more stubborn, embedded, and ugly in your nails.
Foot Specialists of Long Island is proud to be equipped with treatments that attack nail fungus in our patients. Among these methods is our advanced laser treatment.
We wholeheartedly recommend laser therapy for the majority of our patients wishing to eradicate their toenail fungus. Here are just a few reasons why your toenail fungus should see the light.
Laser is More Convenient than Other Methods of Fungal Treatment
Laser treatment for fungal nails uses specific wavelengths of concentrated light energy to pass through thickened nail tissue and attack the fungus living within.
It can all sound pretty technical, and we can throw in a bunch of extra data on frequencies and such to really get your head spinning, but it all boils down to a simple fact: the laser gets in there and gets at the fungus.
When you compare older methods of treating toenail fungus to laser treatment, they seem simpler—but only at a first glance.
Topical treatments involve applying medicinal ointments and creams to affected nails. Laser, on the other hand, gets right in. We prefer to use topical ointment to assist with laser treatment, providing a steady attack on the nail surface while successive laser treatments get into the core.
Then there is oral medication; taking anti-fungal pills for your toenail fungus. Oral medication has the benefit of attacking fungus from the inside out.
However, there is one larger concern with oral medications: side effects. While the medication can take care of fungus, it sometimes comes with other adverse effects. These can range from a bothersome skin rash to more serious liver damage.
Some patients who opt for oral medication may need to receive periodic tests to ensure no harm is being done alongside the good. Other patients with certain conditions will not be able to use oral medications at all. Laser treatment has no such restrictions.
Laser Treatment is Fast and Painless
While the first thought of a laser might be of cutting through metal (and possibly secret agents), laser treatment is far from that type of power or frequency.
A patient undergoing laser treatment has nothing to fear whatsoever. While heat energy is used to attack the fungus, it is not at a concentration to cause pain. Some patients may feel an intense warmth in the area, but not pain.
A standard laser treatment session will last less than 30 minutes, depending on the severity of the infection and whether there is a need to treat all nails.
Once you’re finished with a session, you can continue your day with no restrictions at all. You will not need anyone to drive you to or from the office, or take any special precautions.
Laser Therapy Shows Results
Laser therapy tends to show faster results than just oral or topical medications.
While there can unfortunately be no guarantees in fungal toenail treatments—some infections are just too stubborn to fully eradicate—laser has been effective in 4 out of 5 patients. Some see improvement after just one treatment, while others tend to take three or more. Successive treatments, scheduled out over the course of weeks, will stack, so improvement often accelerates over time.
Oral and topical medications, on the other hand, can take months to show favorable results—and that includes the extra filing and potential side effects!
There is one thing you should keep in mind, however: fully ridding yourself of a fungal infection’s presence does not mean your nail will immediately look clear again. While the fungus is gone, the damage it caused will remain until new, uninfected nail tissue grows out to replace it.
So if you have a date you want clear toenails for, do not hold off on getting treatment. The sooner you start getting fungus treated, the better your nails are likely to look when that future event or vacation rolls around. Starting only a month out is not going to cut it, and giving the fungus more time to take root in your nails isn’t going to help you at all!
Our office in Massapequa is ready to help. Give us a call at (516) 804-9038 or send us a message using our online contact form.