Blog, Fungal Nails
Top 4 reasons your Laser treatment for fungal nail infection won’t or did not work
Is all laser therapy the same?
Laser therapy has become the treatment of choice for many people struggling with fungal nail infections. It’s fast, has very limited discomfort for most and is reliable and effective. But is it?
Increasingly with the popularity on this treatment more practitioners are popping up spruiking their ability to treat. With this sadly comes with groups of people who don’t know what they are doing!
As a clinic who have been using the treatment for many – many years we have seen an influx of these people and with that an influx of poor results!
So why? As a more experienced clinic what have we noticed has contributed to the increase in poor results? Below is some of our thoughts. It’s our hope that this will be considered by some of the newer players in the market or even some that simply want to hit their “A Game!” Here are our top 4!
Number 1. Only treating one toe!
Stats suggest that while the fungal infection is obviously present in one or two toes the spores or eggs are almost 100% of the time present in the other toes!
That right you’re not treating the other fungal spores and they will either develop there or spread back to the treated toe once the laser has gone (yes that quite quickly!)
Number 2. Only treat the damaged areas in the nail.
The area that is yellow or discoloured is actually NOT the live fungus it’s the mess the live fungus leaves! That’s the dead nail NOT the living fungal spores many times!
If you only treat this area it’s a little like taking the Antibiotics after you’re better!
Number 3. You don’t treat the skin.
So where does the fungal spores come from on most occasions? Yup your skin. But you’re only having the nail treated? So the area that has much of the spores and the greatest surface area is not going to be treated.
If you have light dry skin that you can’t get rid of. Do you notice very tiny little blisters that appear but never have fluid in them? Perhaps what may appear as tinea between the toes? These are all signs your fungus is alive and well on your skin ready to hop back on your toenails.
Number 4: Not treating Shoes.
So are we clear yet that fungus obviously does NOT only live in the nail …… or on the one toe! These nasties jump about and are like tummy bugs they are invisible and spread like wild fire!
Be assured if you have had the infection for a time those spores have jumped to the inside of your shoes and socks! They love warm dark spaces. Yes, pretty much exactly like the inside of your shoes! Don’t treat this area and you will have your infection back soon than you can blink!
All that glitters is not gold!
As you can see, while it can appear like treating fungal nails is as simple as grabbing an expensive fancy Laser, it’s not nearly that simple! Particularly if you really do want to help your patient get rid of this dreadfully difficult condition and get rid of it for good. These are only four of the many steps we take (no one wants to read this all day)
In the 5 years we have been treating this difficult condition we have seen many people with unsuccessful treatments from other clinics. We continue each day to innovate in ways that can improve and enhance treatments and increase even further our success rate.
We have found that by using our very detailed multifactorial approach our success rate has been quite high and continues to rise. But and its needs to be noted no treatment is 100% effective – NONE.
You can make laser therapy treatment for nail fungal infections more effective but it takes time, a thorough approach and a little bit of work at home by the patient to increase this!
Next steps
We see several people a day treating fungal nail infections. If we can help you please let us know! You can contact us through our helpful front desk team. They speak to multiple patients a day with this condition. They can run you through our process and then costings and reserve an appointment time that suits you best. Our number is +61 2 9673 2987 we would LOVE to help.
Medical clinics + Other Podiatry clinic’s
If you are one of the many Podiatry / Medical clinics that follow my posts please read the details in my clinic websites.
I am currently developing a course for practitioners interested in learning more effective and efficient ways of treating nail fungus. If you follow our posts we will announce this as it occurs or simply send us a message and our office will save your details.
Our number is 96732987 we look forward to being able to help.
Do you need more information on fungal nail infections – have you checked out our new site dedicated to Fungal nail infections?
*Nail Paints and ointments are reported in the evidence base to be only effective in 13% of people. Imagine your Dr telling you that your medicine only had a 13% chance of making you better??
Blog, Growing pains, Heel Pain, Kids Feet, Sports Care
How come my child’s heel pain isn’t getting better ….
Soccer, rugby league and Netball all culprits for creating heel pain in kids if mixed with poor foot posture and growth spurts
“He had heel pain last year and now it’s back. They have NO idea what it is. They did an x-ray and it’s not Severs. The physio massaged his calves and it helped for a few weeks but it’s not better. It’s almost been 6 months. We had to halve how much sport he does now and he hates it. As soon as he starts running or playing a game, it comes on. He describes a tight feeling when he walks too”
Very honestly, these were the exact words that came from a frustrated and concerned mum, paired with an equally frustrated 13 year old boy, just before lunchtime today. This family traveled across the city to see us, which is not uncommon but it must be frustrating.
The tragedy in these words is that they’re NOT uncommon. At least a few times a week I hear grumblings from frustrated parents – and they most definitely have a right to be frustrated! – because they’ve seen various practitioners without a real diagnosis and just when something has been suspected, imaging has gone and ruled it out and we’re back at square one. Or are we?
The matter of the fact is: People make mistakes. Practitioners make mistakes. Radiographers make mistakes. We’re human! It’s going to happen.
I feel like I could host a conference discussing the amount of times I’ve been handed an xray telling me that there is nothing wrong with my patient that currently sits in front of me in AGONIZING pain!
If it doesn’t sound right, you better believe that it’s not. Let me emphasis: pain does NOT happen for no reason, and no amount of negative radio-graphs is going to magically fix your very real pain.
Kids stay happy and healthy and active – Kids should play sport PAIN FREE!
So then, WHY does this happen?
There can be a variety of reasons, and I’m going to give you the very real uncensored version that other practitioners may get annoyed at me for.
• Referrers can order the wrong TYPE of imagine study. If you’ve damaged a muscle, ligament, tendon or any soft tissue, your x-ray will show you are perfectly fine! Yep, go over there and sit your torn Achilles tendon down because you’re fine to go run that marathon. (Please DONT we are kidding)
• Radiographers are very HUMAN and can miss things. Some are likely to have seen more of a certain condition, or be more familiar with an area of the body, and so some may pick up or recognise things that others miss. And you can’t blame them – the body is composed of an extraordinary amount of bone and soft tissue and any expectation for every single person to be a scholarly expert on every single part is drastically unrealistic.
• Things CHANGE over time. Your imaging from a few months ago is a picture of what is happening in your foot a few months ago. Since that time, some tissues may have gotten better, some tissues may have gotten worse, and some ones may now be damaged that weren’t before!
Be assured:
- There is NOTHING wrong with wanting a second opinion and getting a referral for another ultrasound or X-ray
- There is NOTHING wrong with re-imaging if you feel that your injury has changed. And if you’re having pain but you’re being told there’s nothing wrong, you have EVERY right to be frustrated!
- You SHOULD get a second opinion! or a third even if you are not getting the answers you need.
- There is increasing evidence that we need to look past radiology reports and look at clinical symptoms
So what do you do next?
Your child should not have to play sport in pain, we can happily tell you that we work with kids to get them back to happy healthy and active every day. Our team will work with your child to develop a detailed care plan, this of course after a thorough assessment of their run + walk patterns; including video analysis. we will examine foot wear and make recommendation and look at the damaged soft tissue and assess what is the best way to rehabilitate this back to health! They may require a soft pliable orthotic for inside their shoes to wear while playing (just like our patients that are international level athletes!)
One of the delightful things about treating kids is seeing them return smiling and back to playing the sport they love!
And for all those wondering.. Yes our little champion from this morning did have Severs 😉
A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle care
Penrith, St Marys and soon to come to a suburb near you!
A Step Ahead Foot and Ankle care have founded “My Kids Foot Doctor” a clinic specifically geared towards treating Kids feet. We see dozens of kids a day, unlike other practitioners who see your Grandma’s toe nails and the occasional kid we see these balls of fun all day every day.
About our clinics
Our team see dozens of kids from across Sydney every day
Our clinics are set up with kids in mind we have big toy boxes, TV’s coloring in and lucky dip boxes. Our practitioners are the kind that sit on the ground and chat to your child, who laugh, may wear silly glasses and love handing out chocolate WE LOVE SEEING KIDS!
What does this mean? It means we have built up an enormous amount of experience with kids because we get to see them ALL the time! If we can help you with your little one, if you have a nagging doubt or worry please call our helpful team on 96732987 we’d love to help!
Blog
Blog
His brother has very flat feet and wears orthotics, so I thought I’d get him checked too. He doesn’t get any pain though. I hope that’s okay that I’ve brought him in?
You wouldn’t believe the number of parents I see who are almost embarrassed to have made an appointment for their little one because they’re not sure if they should have.
Little people get pain as well. DON’T wait till your child is in pain to look after them
After chatting to them about why they are uncertain, the most common thoughts floating through a parent’s minds tend to be:
• Is he too young to come in for an appointment? I’m not sure what a good age for this is.
• He doesn’t actually get any pain so I’m not sure if I need to have him looked at?
• I think I might be over-thinking this because it’s only a small thing I’ve noticed!
• This might just be a normal part of her growing, I’m just not sure what’s normal!
These are all very valid thoughts and concerns, and are completely NORMAL!
Unless you’ve undertaken a 4-year podiatry degree and then had at least a few years on top of that working particularly with kids, then there’s not a single person in this world that can expect you to know what is and isn’t normal and when to bring your little one in.
That’s PERFECTLY okay – we’ve taken care of that hard “qualification” stuff for you!
Let me quickly clear up a few of the burning questions:
1. There is NO such thing as too young. We see kids as early as 12 months old – from the moment that they start walking! You’re actually doing us a favour – firstly because the younger we start treating, the better (and faster!) the results tend to be, and secondly because if we have to wait before we start treating, we are able to see and track the progression and changes in your child’s feet. I often ask if the foot was like this a year ago and am often greeted with ‘I honestly don’t know’. The more pieces of the puzzle we have, the more specific we can get in our treatment plan.
2. Pain is NOT the only indicator that something’s wrong. Parental instincts are a powerful thing – if you notice that something is odd, or isn’t quite right, there may well be something going on that needs to be addressed. Don’t doubt yourself!
3. A small thing may indicate something bigger happening. You’re not over-thinking anything at all – everything has a cause, and sometimes something as seemingly small and resolvable as a little bit of in-toeing can actually be a result of a structural foot abnormality that needs correction before it gets worse or weakness in the core muscles that need strengthening to correct and aid normal development.
I think the BIGGEST thing that I want to emphasise here is that we LOVE that you bring your child in at an early age! We LOVE that you just want to get their feet checked to make sure everything is progressing normally. We LOVE that you want to be as proactive as us and prevent any problems from developing instead of having to fix a painful foot after the pain has already started. We will NEVER think it was a bad idea to bring your little one in.
Kids are at the centre of what we do – it’s WHY we come to work – and nothing makes us happier than seeing happy, healthy and active children running around our practice and tearing up our toy box (literally, we have a drawer filled with toys now).
Nina Lansdowne
A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle care
Penrith, St Marys and soon to come to a suburb near you!
A Step Ahead Foot and Ankle care have founded “My Kids Foot Doctor” a clinic specifically geared towards treating Kids feet. We see dozens of kids a day, unlike other practitioners who see your Grandma’s toe nails and the occasional kid we see these balls of fun all day every day.
Our clinics are set up with kids in mind we have big toy boxes, Ipads, TV’s coloring in and lucky dip boxes. Our practitioners are the kind that sit on the ground and chat to your child, who laugh, may wear silly glasses and love handing out chocolate WE LOVE SEEING KIDS!
What does this mean? It means we have built up an enormous amount of experience with kids because we get to see them ALL the time! If we can help you with your little one, if you have a nagging doubt or worry please call our helpful team on 96732987 we’d love to help!
Blog, Uncategorized
Our principal Podiatrist Brenden Brown has been practising for over 15 years and has a wealth of experience. Brenden has a passion for Podiatry while other people do it for a job BB does it because he gets a kick out if it. He will tell all that ask “I love it, I help people all day, I chat I make people feel better, what’s not to love”
This maybe why Brenden is considered one of Australia’s most experienced Podiatrist and possibly Australia’s best known. If you have ever seen an episode of TV which features a Podiatrist as a medical expert chances are it was Brenden. Brenden is a regular on Channel 9 and 7 and has appeared on all Australian network TV stations. You will also find him in the pages of magazines like Men’s Health, Women’s health, New Idea, Prevention magazine and Good Medicine ….he has also appeared in Girlfriend magazine!
Brenden Brown Podiatrist
This week BB was featured on ABC 702 radio in an interview with Linda Mottram. The interview went longer than expected with stacks of people calling in and covers topics from heel pain to bunions. If you are looking for a serious and in depth interview than you’d be best not to listen to one of BB’s interviews. Interviews with BB tend to be interlaced with humour and light heartedness, all the while he seems to have an ability to create complex medical problems and make them accessible and understood by just about anyone.
The link is below, we hope you enjoy.
http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2014/04/04/3978445.htm?site=sydney
Dr Brenden’s White paper report on the “6 Reasons You Won’t Beat Heal Pain” outlines what’s stopping you from beating this and tips on how to stop it in its tracks!