Fingernail Fungus is an extremely common tinea disease and it affects all races, all ages and both sexes. The nail infection is caused by a dermatophyte, a fungi attacking the nail and spreading.
It is most common on the toe nails (toenail fungus), however can be found on fingernails (fingernail fungus) too. There are different types of nail fungus, which have different symptoms and causes.
The main symptoms of fingernail fungus infections
The nail will lose its lustre and shine and become discoloured. The nail will also thicken, become brittle and crumble around the edges and become ragged. Whilst not serious, none of the different fingernail fungus infections types are pleasant to look at or have.
You may become embarrassed because of them and end up hiding them by wearing gloves or not removing shoes and socks from your feet. Also having a fungal nail infection may bring some pain and soreness of the toe or finger.
ZetaClear uses a natural fungicide - Treats Nail Fungus Naturarally.
Onychoptosis is a condition where the nail sheds from the finger or the toe either gradually or in full. This can commonly be known as ingrowing toenails, and often needs to be treated medically as it causes quite a lot of pain the the patient in question.
This can often look horrible and actually cause someone to be less able at living everyday life, for example something as simple as walking may cause severe pain in the foot, or writing with a pen could be very painful to a finger nail. This can easily be seen to be happening, as on the sides of the nails they grow in towards the skin.
What looks like green nails is a nail infection not caused by a tinea fungus, but the pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. It tends to occur in people who are exposed to a moist environment for a prolonged period of time. It is common with artificial nails too. The pseudomonas aeruginosa symptoms are a greenish discoloration of nails, finger or toe pain and sometimes pus and separation of the nail plate.
Dermatophytosis, a superficial fungal infection caused by dermatophytes, can spread from human to human, or even from animals or soil to humans. Three main types of nail fungi are merged into a group called dermatophytes.
These three types are microsporum, epidermophyton and trichophyton. These types of infection do not invade living tissue, they just tend to live on the surface of the skin and then invade nails, but are also found on scalp and hair. Dermatophytosis definition go to Wikipedia or discover more about fungal nail infections and nail fungus treatment here.
But there are other things that can live on the nails. A nail is dead protein, and so is no longer living and cannot fight away infections. Something that this links into is saprophytes. Formerly believed to be nonpathogenic, they are now implicated as the cause of 45 – 55% of fungal infections of foot ad nails. The saprophytes definition basically says that a saprophyte is the engine that causes decay and rotting, thus cleaning up all of the dead plants and animals to make space for new ones, which is part of the cycle of the earth.