Since more than 20% of the world's population is currently infected with fungus on the feet and sometimes on the hands, many people know how unpleasant this disease is and what its consequences are. However, not everyone is familiar with information about which microorganisms cause this disease, and what types of nail fungus are present.
In addition to the form of the disease, its specific characteristics and methods of treatment, it is useful to know how many different types of fungus lead to the destruction of nails and damage to various areas of the feet and hands.
Disease causes and symptoms
With the causes of the disease, everything can be quite complicated, because a person is easily infected with fungi, both due to the weakness of his body, and due to the fact that he exposes himself to constant contact with infected people or objects.
Currently, the following are the main causes of this disease:
- Visiting saunas, showers and public swimming pools;
- Increased sweating of the feet;
- Using other people's shoes or hygiene products;
- Weak immunity and so on.
Manifestations of fungus in the affected area include the following symptoms:
- The formation of scales on the skin of the feet and nails;
- Skin peeling and itching;
- The appearance of cracks;
- Thickening of infected skin and nails;
- Nail color change;
- Destruction of the nail structure.
Important!
In any case, toenail fungus, and any other form of its manifestation, causes a lot of problems, and therefore it is beneficial to deal with the prevention and treatment of the disease in a timely manner.
Form and type of disease
In this case, everything is quite complicated, because the types of fungal nail diseases are distributed according to various criteria.
The classification is as follows:
- According to the depth of penetration and the location of the fungus;
- According to the size of the nail thickness;
- According to the type of pathogen;
- According to the level of development (initial, second, advanced).
If we take the type of pathogen as an example, then in this case the patient needs to study the names in Latin for a long time, therefore it is not worth delving too deeply into unnecessary information with names, it is better to understand in detail the manifestations of nail fungus, and how all this is reflected on the nail plate.
Classification according to depth of penetration and location on the nail
In this case, the form of the disease is divided into the following:
- Distal. This type of onychomycosis appears on the extreme part of the nail (free), and is characterized by discoloration and the beginning of delamination with structural destruction. Plus the place begins to grow in size;
- side. The main signs are similar to the previous form, but the nail color changes on one or both sides of the nail;
- White surface. This form of fungus is expressed by the appearance of several spots on the nail, which eventually leads to complete destruction;
- proximal. The disease originates from the cuticle (it becomes inflamed) and gradually spreads throughout the nail, destroying it;
- Total onychomycosis. The color of the entire nail plate changes, which leads to faster destruction.
Classification according to the size of the nail thickness
This classification has only 3 forms, allowing you to separate the degree of compaction to which the nail infected with the fungus submits.
In this case it is:
- Normotropic form. With this form of the disease, a separate focus of the disease appears on the nails, which have a slightly different color. Nail thickness does not change;
- Hypertrophic form. The nails begin to thicken, change color, they become deformed, gradually collapse and it is no longer comfortable for the person to walk;
- Onycholytic. With this form, the nail fungus leads to the detachment of the layer from the finger, and if you delay the treatment, bringing everything to such a level, you do not have to think about saving the nail.
Of course, the type of toenail fungus itself is distributed depending on the pathogen. There are three main types of microorganisms, but they have their own varieties.
Classification according to the type of pathogen
In this case, three types of pathogens can be distinguished, each with its own subspecies. Keep in mind that these microorganisms can also appear on the hands, but because hand hygiene is more common, this happens less often.
The distribution looks like this:
- mould. This is one of the easiest forms of fungus because the fungus cannot penetrate deep into the affected area. However, manifestations on the toenails are still possible. The main signs are a change in color, from black to green. Sometimes, spots of the same color may appear on the skin of the fingers. There are more than 5 types of molds;
- Dermatophytes. There are 3 main pathogens that cause more severe symptoms. The appearance of gray and yellow stripes, nail detachment, and even worse, this type of microorganism can infect the entire foot;
- Yeast fungus. This fungus is famous because it belongs to the Candida genus, which is also responsible for the development of thrush. The characteristic symptoms when infected with such a fungus are a decrease in the thickness of the nail, a change in color to gray, detachment, and damage to the finger, until its inflammation.
Keep in mind that due to the presence of subspecies, only a specialist will be able to prescribe the correct medicine for the fungus; independent drug selection will be futile.
Finally
Some experts identify other forms of the disease, taking into account the manifestation of the disease on the hands, however, guided by the types known to science, you can understand the type of fungus by looking at the symptoms that appear.
But this does not mean at all that you can treat yourself in this way, because there are other diseases that lead to changes in the color of the nails, as well as peeling them. For this reason, if fungus suddenly appears on your nails, you should immediately go to a doctor, for example a dermatologist, and take a comprehensive approach to solving this problem.