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
In this article, we are going to answer some of your questions around Fungal Nail Infections! 6 Top Questions Answered: What exactly is nail fungus? How does nail fungus spread? Where do I catch this nasty little blighter from? What is the cause of the nasty nail fungus? What does it look like? And finally, are fungal nails infectious?
Yes yes yes this is an exciting foot topic so hold on to your socks we are ready to Rock! (Yes, I am a fun-guy (boom-tish)
Fungal Nail Infection – Heavy
Nail fungus is also called onychomycosis (on-ih-koh-my-KOH-sis). Nail fungus is caused by Fungal organisms or “Fungi.”
The most common type is Dermatophytes. These appear to be most prevalent in temperate climates while Candida is more common in tropical or subtropical (think Warmer northern areas of Australia. Another possibility is nondermatophytic molds, which is more common in warmer climates.
When the fungal nail infection is due to Dermatophytes, it is often referred to as tinea unguium. Of these, it is most likely to be a Trichophyton rubrum. Now, less common but also possible runners up in the dermatophytes stakes are, T. interdigitale, Epidermophyton floccosum, T. violaceum, Microsporum gypseum, T. tonsurans, and T. soudanense.
If you’re a layperson wondering why your nail looks odd the names of these are going to be important, but perhaps you’re a nerdy foot geek and this is really exciting stuff. OK, perhaps not!
Most nail fungus Will start by looking like a yellow or brown spot or streak in your toenail. Most people will notice that their nail seems to be lifting away from the skin.
Nails that are heavily infected will become very yellow or brown discoloured and may also appear thickened. At times it may look a little crumbly and even “worm-eaten”. This appearance, for most people, will take years to occur and does not spontaneously happen overnight.
Fungal nail infections are highly contagious. The fungus produces spores or perhaps easier thought of as eggs. These are invisible to the human eye. They are also very hearty and may Live in multiple areas that have come in contact with a live fungus, such as your socks or shoes. They may also be found in areas such as showers. This makes communal areas in gymnasiums and swimming pools such as change rooms A hotbed for fungal nail transmission.
Reinfection of fungal nails is also quite high if the areas that they live in, and produced spores in, is not treated also. Or the patient continues to use the same infected spaces that they did before their treatment
Tinea – flaky skin blisters-mild
Obviously, patients need to come in contact with a live fungus or with the spores (or eggs).
The first sign for many people is a tinea infection on their skin. This usually presents as dry white flaky skin or in its very early stages tiny waterless blisters on feet
There are certain groups of people that are more predisposed to fungal infections. Patients with diabetes, those who are immunosuppressed, and there seems to be an increased incidence in people over 60 years of age; which of course may include the two previously mentioned groups
Most laypeople commonly misunderstand fungal infections. They are a completely different group to both bacteria and viruses. With this in mind, their treatment is also significantly different. For example, antibiotics and antivirals will not affect fungal nail infections.
Fungal nail infections are not a result of being unclean or unhygienic. Many people mistakenly believe that they simply need to wash their towels or socks more frequently and wash between their toes, and the infection will go away. However, this will have no result on the fungal infection whatsoever.
Worried you have a Fungal Nail Infection? See your GP or Podiatrist for a diagnosis.
Fungal nail Infections are highly infectious! It is common to see in family groups, in particular, those that share the same communal wet areas such as showers and bathrooms.
They are also highly infectious in the same communal areas in workplaces and also gymnasiums and schools, for example.
Fungal nails are one of the most challenging and annoying to treat conditions that podiatrists and other medical professionals come across. This, in my experience, is mostly due to The high reinfection rate and the need to treat not only the infected area but the surrounding environment as well.
In a later article, I will discuss treatments that are recommended for onychomycosis. (Stay tuned)
Written by
Dr Brenden Brown
Sydney based Podiatrist and Founder of A Step Ahead Foot & Ankle Care
St Mary’s and Penrith
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onychomycosis
https://www.healthline.com/health/fungal-nail-infection#diagnosis (Although much of this information I disagree with based on my 24 plus years of experience)
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/nail-fungus/symptoms-causes/syc-20353294
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.0933-7407.2003.00933.x
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
How to choose an awesome Podiatrist? He needs to be more than your Prince Charming…… (Cinderella, Prince trying on shoes…..no?)
So just how do you choose an awesome Podiatrist? The best advice is to find a practitioner to help you. As crazy as it may seem, trolling through social media Instagram pages and Facebook posts for your answers is probably not going to result in you getting better (who’d have thought).
The first step, though? Try heading back to our earlier post about making sure you have the right shoes for the job! Here is the link. You can also head to our video content here.
Unfortunately, as Podiatry is an area in medicine that is continually improving, it is often hard for practitioners to keep up with those changes. Did you know that there is evidence that suggests that it can take up to anywhere between seven and seventeen (Yes! 17 years!) for a medical principle to become accepted. What does this mean? Once a medical idea or a new treatment become the Gold Standard, it can take as long as 17 years before some therapists begin to use it with their patients.
Commonly therapists have headed to two well-oiled treatments such as Stretching and Ice. Unfortunately, while these are well known by practitioners, they are not always helpful. And in fact, at least one of these treatments can make a condition far worse.
Don’t be afraid to ask their reception team questions. What type of work do they see? How old are the average patients of the clinic? Do they see a lot of sports injuries? How often do they see this type of condition every day, every week? Every month?
For more information download our FREE report on 10 Things to Know Before Choosing a Podiatrist.
Run-Walk-PLAY Tibialis posterior pain can be often misdiagnosed
Run – Walk – PLAY with a big smile is the name of the game! That’s exactly what Kyra can do now! Thanks to a correct diagnosis of her Tibialis posterior pain.
Did you know that there is a really powerful muscle that runs down the inside of your lower leg called the Tibialis posterior! The muscle helps control your arch, and it helps roll your foot back out, Giving you an arch.
A Tibialis posterior can become really sore and tired if it becomes overused. Often the pain is in your arch or just under your inside ankle bone. People with this problem who walk a little more than usual, spend longer on their feet, perhaps play sport may find that this area becomes very sore.
This is what lead Kyra’s parents to bring her along to visit us. She had six months with pain in her feet, legs ankles. Her parents had tried several things before visiting us. A month into care with awesome orthotics and Kyra has NO more PAIN in her feet.
Her orthotics work by balancing her foot posture so that her arch is the right spot at the right time when walking + running. The Tibialis muscle then doesn’t need to do as much work!
She is LOVING HER new orthotics and comfortable in them. She happily runs walks and plays sport in them.
Pain like this is widespread and is often misdiagnosed as things like growing pains. Frequently parents are told that there is nothing they can do. We are here to tell you that’s not the case!
If you’d like help the first step is to call our helpful front desk team, they can run through what’s been going on for you and what you have tried so far. They can then work out what type of appointment is best for you and the costs. They can then look at reserving your appointment time.
Our number is 02 9673 2987 we would love to be able to help!
Orthotics Helped with Kyra’s Tibialis posterior pain
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!
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
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!
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!”
