What Else Causes a Toenail Fungus?

Many people will tell you what a toenail fungus is.

"A fungus that effects the nail"

The better ones will tell you that it affects the skin as well. The ones that seem to know what they are talking about will characterize it by saying that the fungus is actually a Dermatophyte- a Keratin loving organism. Keratin is a main component of skin and nails. The better known sites will say that it is caused by Tricophytum Rubrum- one of the organisms that cause the problem.

The vast majority of sites will actually tell you that it is all to do with your hygiene, sharing socks & shoes and the other run of the mill lines. My site includes all of that, but one thing that most will miss, and I mean a good chunk (professional sites included) is that not all toenail fungus are caused just by those elements alone.

The toenail fungus can jump into your nail or onto your skin due to many reasons. The main ones are as follows:

1. Diabetes. This is a huge topic all by itself. But the basics go like this. With Diabetes your immunity reduces slightly and your skin has a little bit more "sugar" running around on it. This is like nectar to many organisms and fungus are one of those. Sometimes your skin becomes a little bit dryer or a little bit sweatier. Now with a reduced immunity you become susceptible to more problems. So along comes the fungus and sees a sweaty skin that with reduced immunity and sugar...well it just jumps straight into that nail, or you tend to acquire Athletes Foot a little bit quicker than most.

Keeping your blood sugars regular is going to help, but you are going to be a little bit more susceptible than most. So do you treat or don't you? Well it all depends if those nails are causing a problem and you are willing to try products which have a high failure rate and there is no guarantee that the toenail fungus is not going to come back. It also depends upon the person.

2. Diabetes is not the only condition that toenail fungus seems to be a bit more prevalent. Rheumatoid Arthritis is another usual suspect. Also conditions which reduce your circulation (indirect damage) or anything that damages the toenail directly or indirectly is not going to help- this also takes into consideration applying topical chemicals such as nail varnish and remover. This is because if the toenail is damaged, the damage removes the protective coating that all nails have. This then allows the toenail fungus to penetrate the nail.

3. Immuno-suppressant. Any sort of immuno-reducing medicaments (chemo, transplant etc). Again this allows the fungus to jump straight into the nail or onto the skin. This is probably why Rheumatoid patients obtain toenail fungus more readily. Their condition is one where there is an auto-immune destruction of the joints- medication is needed to suppress the immune system.

As you can see, there are many other ways to obtain a toenail fungus. The ways here are all to common, and they can be seen in the clinic on a regular basis. usually though the patient's condition usually outweighs the desire to treat the toenail fungus. Or if they could, pharmaceutical medication sometimes has adverse side effects which obviously the patient does not want. Or, the anti-fungal agents do not react well with their main medication. In that case topical treatments would be considered- natural or pharmaceutical.