I get a regular customer in my store who’s got this horrible, noticeable nail fungus. Maybe I’m freaking out about this too much, but I was wondering how contagious that sort of thing is? We exchange money so her hands have had to touch mine on several occasions. What would my chances be of getting it? Also as an aside, why would someone not have that treated? Isn’t there drugs that can cure that?
Monday morning paranoia maybe. It’d be nice to know if it’s worth worrying about or not, though.
IANAD, this is just based on my own experience and what I’ve been told by doctors. I have the stuff on a toenail. Nail fungus is very, very, very, very difficult to eliminate. It can be treated, but 100% success is hard to get.
I’m not sure exactly how contagious it is, but my husband has not contracted it from me, and our feet certainly do touch under the covers from time to time. OTOH, washing one’s hands frequently never hurts.
Most any cure that has a chance of working is probably going to be prescription only. There is an oral med that is sometimes prescribed, but it’s potentially dangerous to the patient’s liver. You have to get testing before and during the treatment. There’s also a paint-on lacquer that kind of works. You have to be very diligent about painting it on once a day and then removing it with alcohol once a week, followed by cutting & scraping away any dead nail tissue. It’s very tedious. It also takes a long time – as in several months – to see the results of treatment. You don’t really see it as improved until the nail grows out, which can easily be 6 months. Oh, and both these treatments are expensive, to the point that my doctor not only asked “Do you have prescription insurance coverage,” but “Do you have *good * prescription insurance coverage.” I would hazard a guess that since it’s not life-threatening, there may well exist insurance companies that wouldn’t cover it.
Hardly contagious at all. Not a risk to others unless you’re involved in a nail-fetish thing with them.
These things are very hard to treat. Topical treatments generally are worthless, despite what the ads say. Certain oral antifungals are a bit better than that (other oral antifungals aren’t), but far from a sure thing, and all the oral meds carry the risk of damaging the liver.
Basically, it has to be causing significant problems before I counsel a course of therapy.
In the meantime, paint 'em with Vicks. Some studies indicate it works a bit better than placebo, and at least as well if not better than topical meds formulated and touted for the fungus problem.
Tea tree oil worked for me. I painted it on & around the (toe) nail for a couple of months. Eventually, part of the nail fell off & it grew back with no fungus. Of course, this is my personal anecdotal datum!
I’m a great believer in Western Medicine. But tea tree oil is not expensive. And nail fungus is hardly life threatening.
I see our Actual Doctor suggested Vicks Vaporub. Sounds like (a) it can’t hurt & (b) it might help. And it’s cheaper than tea tree oil.
Strange as it sounds I’ve heard lots of people say they’ve had success with Vics.
Cool. Sounds like I shouldn’t have to worry about getting it. Thanks.
I don’t even want to know what a nail fetish might involve…O_o
Any experience with black walnut hull extract? It’s a traditional use for it, and it did get rid of my mother’s nail fungus (after the expensive and useless pharmaceutical stuff failed), but that’s hardly overwhelming evidence.
No I don’t. Not unless you consider that I have a black walnut tree, walk around barefoot stepping on walnuts a few times a year (ouch, dammit!), and don’t have toenail fungus, to be ‘experience’.
Even cheaper is rubbing alcohol. I won’t say it’ll work for every kind of nail fungus but whatever kind I had, it killed it off right away both times. I just applied it under the nail with a Q-Tip, pushing firmly but not painfully, so as to soak every bit of fungus possible. I did this a couple of times a day for several days. The fungus came to a standstill and in a few months when the nail had grown out, you would have never known there had been a problem.
I’d never seen it on fingernails before. Could there be some other reason for the OP’s customer’s nails to grow like that?
Dunno. I could be wrong on it being fungus, but it sure looked fungus-y. Her nails are very thick and yellowish, and cracked and flaky, and in some parts they look worn right down to the nail bed. There’s…bits hanging off them.
Sorry for anyone who was eating as they read this.
Q the M, you say it’s not very contagious. So can I assume that all the worry I have when I go for a manicure is for naught? I actually considered getting my own tools to bring to the salon, but if it’s not that big a deal, then hell…I’ll go the pro route more often!
(By the way, I do natural nails only (part of the reason is that I heard those with fake nails tend to get fungus more often).)
I think the “bring your own tools” advice is more about avoiding staph and strep skin infections around the cuticle and nail bed than fungal infections. But still, one would assume less contact between a cashier and a paying customer than a nail tool and your nail.
Artificial nails encourage fungal infections because the fungal spores get trapped in the space between the acrylic and the natural nail - whereas a stray fungal spore on top of your own nail is likely to be washed away.
But if I was a fungi-infected fake nail patron, I would very easily be able to pass that to the next fake nail patron if the salon didn’t do their job with regard to sanitizing the tools, right?
Good to know about the staph bug. I’ve never heard that.
I went through a prescription med regimen for toenail fungus. It didn’t do anything. 3 months and not cheap, either.
I’ve sort of resigned myself to ugly toenails. I could live with that, problem is they are brittle and painful. Vics Vapo Rub?? I might give it a try.
Another vote for tea tree oil for nail fungus. Worked wonders for DH who just rubbed a little into each nail and nail bed every night before going to sleep. In a couple of months his fingernails were back to their normal, ragged, carpentry battered state.
It might be this.
Psoriasis in the nail bed.
I have psoriasis, which isn’t fun, but I don’t have it there.
If it’s that, it’s not contagious at all. Just not the prettiest thing in the world.
I don’t think so…it looks different and doesn’t affect her cuticles, unlike the pic in the link you posted. Hers looks more like this (except it’s on fingers, not toes):
http://www.fungusrebate.com/images/fungus_nail.jpg
Also, I have psoriasis too, on my scalp, so it usually isn’t visible unless I have bad days where it can get flaky. It would look like dandruff if it wasn’t for the redness at the hairline. It’s been pretty good as of late though.
My wife had this problem due to a reduced immune system. (chemo)
The thing that we found to work best was the stuff they sell in pharmacies for vaginal candidiasis. It has myconozole nitrate in it and killed her toenail fungus in about a month. It is cheap and OTC here and she was very good about putting it on twice a day, trimming back the dead nail. etc. Anyway, one more anecdote for the collection.
Regards
Testy
I had the toenail fungus on my right big toe for about 15 years. I tried topical treatments, etc. Finally figured out if it’s below the damn nail I’d have to take the nail off and treat the bed. I just sat down one day and chipped away at that stupid nail until there was only a very very thin layer at the nail bed and tiny bit at the cuticle (no way I’m digging in there. Ouch. But the rest wasn’t painful at all). I put Lamisil and Vicks on it twice a day for a couple of months. Presto! When my nail grew back in, it was normal!
I’ll second chemo as doing that to nails, too - my friend’s looked like that for a while until they finally fell off - but the toenails were surgically removed, they were so bad.