Unmasking Fungal Nails: Your Guide to Understanding and Treating Onychomycosis

Unmasking Fungal Nails: Your Guide to Understanding and Treating Onychomycosis

Hello there, reader! Have you ever noticed a discoloured, thickened, or crumbly toenail on your feet and wondered what it could be? Well, it's time we shed some light on a common condition that affects many people - fungal nails, also known as onychomycosis. Don't let the fancy name scare you; we're here to break it down in simple terms.

Fungal nails are caused by, you guessed it, a fungal infection! These pesky infections can occur on both your fingernails and toenails. As A Step Ahead is here to conquer foot ails, we will stick to toenails today. They’re characterised by yellow or brown discolouration, thickening of the nails, and sometimes, but not all times, even a foul odour. Sounds unpleasant, right?

Now, you might be thinking, "I'm clean; I wash between my toes like Mum told me regularly, so I don't have to worry about this, right?" Welllllll, there's more to it than that.

There's a common misconception that poor hygiene is the cause of fungal nails. But here's the truth: fungal infections are highly contagious and can affect anyone. Yes, anyone! You can catch these infections from bathrooms, nail salons, or even through contact with contaminated surfaces even if you followed Mum's sage-like advice.

Another myth we often hear is that home remedies, such as tea tree oil, Vicks VapoRub, or vinegar, can effectively treat fungal nails. It sounds easy and convenient, doesn't it? However, the science behind these claims is limited. Creams, lotions, and paints often fail to penetrate the hard nail surface, making them less effective than we'd like them to be. What a shame; imagine the side hustle Vicks could have developed in summertime.

Thermal Laser - Unmasking Fungal Nails: Your Guide to Understanding and Treating Onychomycosis

Thermal Laser - Unmasking Fungal Nails: Your Guide to Understanding and Treating Onychomycosis

So, what does work? Let's introduce you to a reliable and effective solution – thermal medical-grade laser treatment. This modern approach involves passing a beam of laser light over the infected area, heating the inside of the nail and the tissue underneath. The heat effectively kills both the fungus and its spores or eggs. What's more, it's safe, has minimal discomfort, some would say painless and takes approximately 45-60 minutes to treat all ten toenails. Sounds like a win-win situation, doesn't it?

But remember this: early treatment is key to a successful outcome. The longer you delay treatment, the higher the chance of the infection spreading and becoming more difficult to treat. It's crucial to seek treatment from qualified professionals who can provide a comprehensive approach to treating fungal nails.

The work doesn't stop once the fungus is treated. Proper aftercare is SUPER important to prevent reinfection. This includes taking care of the surrounding skin, your shoes, socks, and even the shower. And, when it comes to pedicures at nail salons, make sure to visit reputable nail technicians who follow proper sterilisation procedures. It’s a good idea to ask one of our foot Doctors, all qualified Podiatrists, what that might look like.

To sum it up, fungal nails are an unpleasant but common condition caused by a fungal infection. Despite the myths and misconceptions surrounding it, effective treatment is available in the form of medical-grade thermal laser therapy. Remember, early intervention and proper aftercare are essential to prevent further complications.

So, if you notice any signs of a fungal nail infection, give one of our super helpful team a call on 96732987. They'd LOVE to help. Our team have helped oodles of people just like you. They will chat with you to find out what's going on with your feet. Then, they will be able to suggest the best treatment options available to you. From there, they can help you find a time that suits you best and will make an appointment to see one of our highly qualified foot doctors.

Let's spread awareness, not fungus! Keep you and your nails happy, healthy and happy.

Fungal Nail Calculator

You may also like to try our Fungal Nail Calculator. This is the first Fungal Nail calculator in the world and will help guide you to potential treatment protocols.

Use this guide to help guide you to understand better the level of infection that you may have present and give helpful suggestions as to what the best therapies maybe.

Head to fungalnaildr.com.au

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Dr Brenden Brown, Podiatrist & Shendi Brown

Dr Brenden Brown, Podiatrist & Shendi Brown

Founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care in Sydney, and former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Dr Brenden Brown (A.K.A Dr Foot) is a wealth of knowledge on how to take care of your feet, including how to find the best shoes.

Follow him on social media:
 instagram.com/askdrfoot
 facebook.com/podiatristsydney
 twitter.com/AStepAheadFAC

Ten-things-to-know-before-choosing-a-podiatrist

Free Report “10 things to know before choosing a Podiatrist”

Choosing your Sydney foot doctor is an important decision and can mean the difference between getting mediocre results and living pain-free. Learn about the top 10 things you should know when choosing your podiatrist in St Marys or Penrith.

Shameless Plug or where to get real help!

Need help? Need another opinion? Just want to get this sorted? Great, we'd love to help you ? You can start by calling our wonderfully helpful team on 9673 2987. They are all parents and will be able to help answer questions and guide you in the right direction.

Another option is to use our call back service, pop your details in the very short form and we will call YOU back on a number and times that suits YOU best. ?

Got Diabetes? Take fungal nail infection seriously

Got Diabetes? Take fungal nail infection seriously

There are many reasons why people with diabetes must take fungal nail infection seriously and check their feet every day - foot fungus (onychomycosis) is one of them. Uncontrolled diabetes can damage the body’s nerves. Injured nerves in the legs and feet mean that you might not feel pain, heat or wound development - leaving you more susceptible to fungal nail infection.

High blood sugar levels can also increase the growth of fungi in the skin and nails.

As with most things, early detection is key. The signs of a fungal nail infection include:

  • Yellow or brown discoloured nails
  • Brittle or crumbling
  • Extremely thickened nails

Fungal nail infections should be taken more seriously in people with diabetes due to the risk of more severe complications, such as foot ulcers, skin infections and gangrene. Luckily, there are steps you can take to avoid fungal nail infection.

Prevent Fungal Nail

Having your feet checked regularly by a podiatrist can identify early warning signs and help ward off serious foot-related complications.

According to Diabetes Australia, your check-up should look at blood flow to the feet, feeling and reflexes, unusual foot shapes, toenails and signs of calluses, corns, cracks, infection or severe dryness.

Calluses and corns can be expected in people with diabetes due to too much pressure on the feet. Your podiatrist can assist in removing calluses and corns promptly—before they turn into ulcers or become infected.

To further protect your feet from a fungal nail infection:

  • Wash, dry and check your feet daily
  • Have your feet checked at least once a year by a podiatrist or credentialed diabetes
  • Wear thongs in communal shower areas
  • Keep toenails short. Cut them straight across
  • Moisturise feet daily
  • Refrain from wearing tights and stockings
  • Wear well-fitting shoes
  • Don’t go barefoot

Want to know more? Check out fungalnaildoctor.com.au or contact A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care.

 

 

Fungal Nail Calculator

You may also like to try our Fungal Nail Calculator. This is the first Fungal Nail calculator in the world and will help guide you to potential treatment protocols.

Use this guide to help guide you to understand better the level of infection that you may have present and give helpful suggestions as to what the best therapies maybe.

Head to fungalnaildr.com.au

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Dr Brenden Brown, Podiatrist & Shendi Brown

Dr Brenden Brown, Podiatrist & Shendi Brown

Founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care in Sydney, and former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Dr Brenden Brown (A.K.A Dr Foot) is a wealth of knowledge on how to take care of your feet, including how to find the best shoes.

Follow him on social media:
 instagram.com/askdrfoot
 facebook.com/podiatristsydney
 twitter.com/AStepAheadFAC

Ten-things-to-know-before-choosing-a-podiatrist

Free Report “10 things to know before choosing a Podiatrist”

Choosing your Sydney foot doctor is an important decision and can mean the difference between getting mediocre results and living pain-free. Learn about the top 10 things you should know when choosing your podiatrist in St Marys or Penrith.

Shameless Plug or where to get real help!

Need help? Need another opinion? Just want to get this sorted? Great, we'd love to help you 😊 You can start by calling our wonderfully helpful team on 9673 2987. They are all parents and will be able to help answer questions and guide you in the right direction.

Another option is to use our call back service, pop your details in the very short form and we will call YOU back on a number and times that suits YOU best. 😊

6 Tips to Make Buying School Shoes Easier in 2021

6 Tips to Make Buying School Shoes Easier in 2021

6 Tips to Make Buying School Shoes Easier in 2021

These are 6 Essential Tips and Hacks for parents buying school shoes for the year ahead in 2021

6-tips-to-make-buying-school-shoes-easier-2021

What are the 6 tips to make Buying School Shoes easier in 2021? This post is designed to take some of the pain away from buying school shoes, making it easier to get your kids quickly and comfortably into school shoes that will be healthy for them throughout the year.

It’s that time of year, where are you are not only juggling an increasingly feisty group of kids who are startlingly becoming bored of the magical iPad that has worked so well for so long through the holiday period! To add to this feast of feistiness from bored kids, you now need to manage to get them ready to head back to school and in particular, buying new school shoes that many of them may not even like! Gawd!!!

At times, the process of selecting and choosing an awesome shoe can feel a lot like a chore. And at other times it can become a little overwhelming. Never fear, Dr Brenden, our principal podiatrist, has some helpful tips and hacks to make you look like a pro while removing some of the pain. Let’s go!

Dr Brenden’s Podiatry Tips -  Things to consider when buying school shoes

Have a Plan - Get in and get out quickly is my advice

Have a Plan - Get in and get out quickly is my advice

1. Have a Plan

Now is the time to make decisions, contrary to popular belief the time is not when you walk through the shoe shop doors. Having a plan and knowing what you are looking for will reduce the arguments. It will also help with any difficulties you may have with your child in the shop whilst having to juggle them and with the added distraction of oodles of other people, kids arguing with their parentals.

Get in and get out quickly is my advice. Know what you want before you go and come out looking like a sage to the other parents climbing the wall!

2. Choose before you go!

Your kids are more than capable of finding inappropriate content on the net, so their net surfing skills are most likely better than yours. Why not put this to good use and get them choosing or suggesting some shoes they may like to wear. Yes, give them boundaries tell them what they should look like, tell them the features they will need to have.

  • Do they need to be leather?
  • Do they need to have laces?
  • Do they need to look like a traditional school shoe or a runner?

3. Get your kids involved!

Asking your kids to get involved in their shoe selection helps with buy-in and empowers them in the choices that are about to be made. The more your kids feel like they were involved and had input, the more they are likely to wear them, and there is a good part of your battle won!

4. Know what your kids need

Check if that’s shoes is right for them - is it good for wide or narrow feet? Junior or senior kids? Active or inactive kids?

Kids are not all the same, and nor are school shoes. Over many years the selection of shoes has grown. With this, the uniform policies of many schools have been relaxed. The days of Batta Scouts or Clark’s as your only choice are gone.

With this in mind, school shoe retailers have expanded the tools available to make it easier to make a choice for the year ahead. Hit the net, and you’ll find some pretty fancy shoe selectors designed to help you make more educated choices for your kids. These not only address considerations like width and size. But also, is your child likely to be active? Or a book worm? Are they in junior or senior school? Laces or Velcro? And the list goes on.

Like the tip above if you want to avoid confusion, argument and long lines at retail outlets NOW is the time to start looking at this. Not with your kids sitting in the retailer staring at a phone while you try to garner answers from them.

Ascent, who is an Australian footwear brand, has a great example of an online selector here www.ascentfootwear.com.au/school

5. Try shoe size estimators online

Click to Download the Athlete's Foot Sizing Chart

Click to Download the Athlete's Foot Sizing Chart

I readily acknowledge that I’m not overly comfortable spending more time than necessary in retail outlets in the current climate. This leads me to suggest that rather than waiting until you get to the retailer, it is worth using the available online tools to help get a better guide of your child’s new shoe size.

As described in earlier tips, there is an emerging amount of resources available for parents online. There are quite good systems that you can use at home by simply printing out a scalable image and taking specific measurements, and you can fairly accurately estimate both the size you should be looking for and the width that is best for your child. I really liked this one here  theathletesfoot.com.au/media/wysiwyg/Kids_Size_Fitting_Chart_A4.pdf

6. Have a virtual Fit session!

While some retailers have simply increased the tools online that help you choose the size, others have gone the extra mile and now offer virtual shoe fitting sessions. These are sessions where you can have a real live person discuss with you what you’re looking for and help you measure your child or online in the safety or comfort of your own home.

Most of these require pre-booking, and as you can imagine they are booking out recently quickly because of their ease and accessibility.

This one by shoes and Sox looks great  www.shoesandsox.com.au.

There is quite a bit to online shoe-fitting, so I’ve quickly prepared another blog with much more detail around these so check it out here.

Summing up the 6 tips to make buying school shoes easier in 2021!

Dr Brenden Brown - Podiatrist in Western Sydney

Brenden is one of Australia’s leading experts in foot ankle and lower limb problems

Preparation is the key, not only will it save you time there is a really good chance that if you decide to take this opportunity to get your kids involved, they will have more buy-in and actually want to wear what you buy them. No, there are no promises, but there may even be fewer fights!

There is a wonderful amount of tools that have become available in the last 12 months. These tools will help take some of the pain out of the process. For some people, that may mean you don’t even have to set foot in a brick and mortar retailer.

By Dr Brenden Brown,  Podiatrist Sydney

Brenden (BB) is the past President of the Australian Podiatry Association, has featured widely on television and in the media. He is an expert in his field, chatting about foot conditions on a regular talkback segment on Sydney radio. His mum is very proud!

He’s the founder of, and a clinician, at A Step Ahead Foot & Ankle Care in Western Sydney.

 

FREE Growing Pain Report by Dr Brenden Brown

Is it really growing pains?

 

7 simple signs every parent should know!

Are you worried about pain in your child feet? Not sure whats normal and whats not? Try accessing Dr Brenden’s helpful report on the “Growing pains - 7 simple signs every parent should know!” As a recognised expert in lower limb health with over 20 years’ experience, A past advisor for Clarks Kids footwear and lecturer on growing pains. Dr Brenden outlines what every Parent should know about Growing Pains and gives you fast ways to identify the “what and when” you need to know!

Shameless Plug or where to get real help!

Need help? Need another opinion? Just want to get this sorted? Great, we'd love to help you 😊 You can start by calling our wonderfully helpful team on 9673 2987. They are all parents and will be able to help answer questions and guide you in the right direction.

Another option is to use our call back service, pop your details in the very short form and we will call YOU back on a number and times that suits YOU best. 😊

Are Fungal Nails Contagious? – Fungal Nail Series

Are Fungal Nails Contagious? – Fungal Nail Series

Are Fungal Nails Contagious? - Fungal Nail Series

TRANSCRIPT

So, are fungal nails contagious?

You know, there's a bit of a myth out there that if you can't see it in a nail or that it's only in this nail and then it won't be in that nail, that's a complete myth.

Guess what? If you've got an infected nail here, the likelihood is all of these other nails, particularly on your feet, they're gonna be infected too.

They've actually got spores or tiny eggs living in them. The eggs actually live everywhere.

They live in your shower, in your socks, on your skin, possibly in the nail polish you've been using, and on your nail care instruments. If they're your patients nail care instruments, they can be living there too.

So you need to make sure that you treat all of those areas, otherwise, that really highly contagious bug is gonna come right back.

There's stacks of information to learn about this when you're trying to treat this nasty, but don't worry, we've actually made stacks of videos to help you through this process.

So, read below and look for the series on beating fungal nail infections, particularly if you're a clinician or even a patient. We hope this helps you beat this horrible, nasty little bug.

Fungal Nail Calculator

You may also like to try our Fungal Nail Calculator. This is the first Fungal Nail calculator in the world and will help guide you to potential treatment protocols.

Use this guide to help guide you to understand better the level of infection that you may have present and give helpful suggestions as to what the best therapies maybe.

Head to fungalnaildr.com.au

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Dr Brenden Brown, Podiatrist & Shendi Brown

Dr Brenden Brown, Podiatrist & Shendi Brown

Founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care in Sydney, and former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Dr Brenden Brown (A.K.A Dr Foot) is a wealth of knowledge on how to take care of your feet, including how to find the best shoes.

Follow him on social media:
 instagram.com/askdrfoot
 facebook.com/podiatristsydney
 twitter.com/AStepAheadFAC

Ten-things-to-know-before-choosing-a-podiatrist

Free Report “10 things to know before choosing a Podiatrist”

Choosing your Sydney foot doctor is an important decision and can mean the difference between getting mediocre results and living pain-free. Learn about the top 10 things you should know when choosing your podiatrist in St Marys or Penrith.

Shameless Plug or where to get real help!

Need help? Need another opinion? Just want to get this sorted? Great, we'd love to help you 😊 You can start by calling our wonderfully helpful team on 9673 2987. They are all parents and will be able to help answer questions and guide you in the right direction.

Another option is to use our call back service, pop your details in the very short form and we will call YOU back on a number and times that suits YOU best. 😊

What Does Thermal Laser Feel Like? – Fungal Nail Series

What Does Thermal Laser Feel Like? – Fungal Nail Series

What Does Thermal Laser Feel Like?

Wow. What does Thermal Laser feel like?

That's a great question. And it's a question that patients ask us all the time.

So, most people will actually tell you that it feels a lot like laser hair removal, so it can be a warm, hot sensation. The beauty of it is, is that it's actually quite gradual, unlike my understanding is, laser for hair removal. It actually comes on quite slowly because we have the therapist there with you at the time using the machine, which is uber important.

If it becomes a lot too hot, they're actually able to remove it straight away and stop it and instantly any sort of warm sensation finishes that minute.

The next thing to say to you is, look, it actually varies from person to person. We've actually had really big hefty tattooed men that actually found it really uncomfortable, but then we've had grandmas that have told us they've got no pain whatsoever.

So it really is very different for everyone. The answer is we're not sure, but most people, 90% of our patients, bear it, use it, and actually find the treatment super successful.

Fungal Nail Calculator

You may also like to try our Fungal Nail Calculator. This is the first Fungal Nail calculator in the world and will help guide you to potential treatment protocols.

Use this guide to help guide you to understand better the level of infection that you may have present and give helpful suggestions as to what the best therapies maybe.

Head to fungalnaildr.com.au

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Dr Brenden Brown, Podiatrist & Shendi Brown

Dr Brenden Brown, Podiatrist & Shendi Brown

Founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care in Sydney, and former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Dr Brenden Brown (A.K.A Dr Foot) is a wealth of knowledge on how to take care of your feet, including how to find the best shoes.

Follow him on social media:
 instagram.com/askdrfoot
 facebook.com/podiatristsydney
 twitter.com/AStepAheadFAC

Ten-things-to-know-before-choosing-a-podiatrist

Free Report “10 things to know before choosing a Podiatrist”

Choosing your Sydney foot doctor is an important decision and can mean the difference between getting mediocre results and living pain-free. Learn about the top 10 things you should know when choosing your podiatrist in St Marys or Penrith.

Shameless Plug or where to get real help!

Need help? Need another opinion? Just want to get this sorted? Great, we'd love to help you 😊 You can start by calling our wonderfully helpful team on 9673 2987. They are all parents and will be able to help answer questions and guide you in the right direction.

Another option is to use our call back service, pop your details in the very short form and we will call YOU back on a number and times that suits YOU best. 😊