Nail fungus infections are an extremely common nail disorder. In the US there are over 35 million people with a nail fungus. The main reason why these numbers are so high is due to the contagious nature of the infection. Fungal spores can easily be passed from person to person by direct or indirect contact.  But the high infection rate is also due to the fact that many people leave their condition untreated and those that do treat often give up when visible signs of improvement don’t come quickly.

It’s important to recognize that the disease is progressive in nature. It will continue to advance across the nail if left untreated. The results will be increasingly discolored, distorted, unsightly nails. Certainly not the kind of thing you’d like to be on show.  So our goal in this article is to set out some tips to help motivate sufferers to stick to their treatment routine as long as is needed to eliminate the fungus.

• At the outset is important to prepare yourself mentally for the fact that you’re not going to see visible signs of improvement for at least several weeks.
• Tracking the progress of the treatment is important, but only do this on a monthly basis.
• Many topical treatments such as Zetaclear and Funginix require a daily application.  So it’s important to try and build this into your routine. So decide when you’re going to apply the treatment (for example after showering or brushing your teeth) and get into the habit of doing this everyday. If you need to tie a ribbon around your shower or your toothbrush to remind you then just do it.
• Your goal when treating the infection topically is to ensure that the antifungal agents contained in the treatment product are able to sink into the nail to reach the fungus. So before each application clean and dry your nails thoroughly, trim them back as far as possible and run a nail file horizontally across the surface of the nail to try and open it up treatment.
• Let the antifungal medication dry onto the nail before you move about or put on socks and shoes. It may be worth putting on a band-aid (waterproof is possible) to stop the treatment from rubbing off.
• For a bit of extra motivation take a photo your fungus ridden nails and put it somewhere easily visible to remind you of what your goals are.