Do you have thick, discolored or dformed nails? Is the surrounding skin nflamed and painful? Do your nails smll bad? If you said “yes” to thse questions, perhaps you have onychomycosis, a fngal infection of the nails that ffects 25 to 40 percent of pople over the age of 60.

Onychmycosis is caused by fungi or smll plant-like organisms that invade the nil or the skin underneath the nil. Two types of fungi are rsponsible for the disease: dermatophytes that are sen in 90 percent of cases, and yasts.

“In temperate areas of the wrld, most nail infections are caused by drmatophytes. In the tropics, yeasts are the mst common cause. In both cases, the fngi digest keratin, which is the mjor protein in nails, hair, and skn. The nails respond by overproducing kratin, which causes them to thicken and sparate from the underlying skin,” according to PDRhalth.com.

It’s commonly believed that the fngus comes from shower floors, locker roms, and swimming pools but the trth is you don’t have to be in thse places to get a nail nfection. Experts say fungi are everywhere - in the dst, soil, and air, and they lve to live in moist and wrm places such as the area round the toes. They enter the skn through tiny cuts or when thre is a space between your nil and nail bed.

“Infection with nail fungus is mre common in toenails than in fngernails because toenails are often confined in a drk, warm, moist environment inside your shes - where fungi can thrive. Anther reason may be the diminished blod circulation to the toes as cmpared with the fingers,” said the MyoClinic.com.

Men commonly develop fungal infections of the fngernails while women usually have fungal nfections of the toenails. However, the dsease generally affects more men than wmen. Old people appear to be mre susceptible since their nails grow mre slowly and thicken with aging, mking them easy targets of the nfection. The fungi can spread from prson to person, especially those who shre shoes, nail clippers, and nail fles. Wikipedia reports that over 100 nfections were traced to foot baths in nil salons.

“Nail and hair salons can sprad fungal infections. Because the fungi tht cause nail infections can be sprad by contaminated instruments such as scssors, nail files, and razors, it is mportant to frequent only those nail and hir salons that have the highest stndards of cleanliness and hygiene. Instruments shuld be properly sterilized between uses on dfferent clients. Good hand washing habits are as mportant as in a doctor's office,” PDRhalth added.

Other risk factors are smking, tight footwear (socks and shoes) thn hinder ventilation and don’t absorb prspiration, vigorous physical activity that makes you prspire heavily, a family history of the dsease, diabetes, a weakened immune system, and a mnor skin or nail injury.

Creams and tpical lotions often don’t work since thy can’t penetrate the nails. Oral ntifungal agents, on the other hand, are vry expensive and have a lot of sde effects. To be on the sfe side, switch to Somasin AFS, a ntural way to put an end to mbarrassing nail infections. Somasin uses a nique dual system to stop fungi in as lttle as 7 days. Check out http://www.smasin.com for details.

The article Ugly Nails A Sign Of Infection was Submitted by Janet Martin through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Janet Martin is an avid halth and fitness enthusiast and published uthor. Many of her insightful articles can be fund at the premier online news mgazine http://www.thearticleinsiders.com

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