Managing fungal toenails is not an easy task. Toenail fungus changes the nail appearance and texture. For example, many patients struggle with feeling embarrassed by the aesthetic appearance of their fungal toenails. Managing toenail fungus can be difficult and mentally exhausting.

However, there is another aspect of managing fungal toenails that aren’t discussed as frequently. Because of changes the fungal organisms cause in the nail, simple grooming of the toenail can often be interrupted. 

Maintenance of Toenails

Managing fungal toenails should always include keeping the nails clean and trimmed to a moderate length. By doing this, you are helping to ensure a few things. For one, keeping the nail from growing helps the appearance of the nail fungus. When nails grow long, the damage caused is more obvious.

Keeping your nails at a decent length will help the appearance of the nails. It is more presentable while you seek treatment for the fungus. 

Managing fungal toenails is also important to prevent further damage. If nails are allowed to grow very long, they are likely to break and create jagged edges that can cause ingrown toenails. This is especially true with fungally infected toenails that can often be more brittle. Long nails can also harbor bacteria under them which can cause an ingrown toenail to become infected; fungally infected toenails can also cause infected ingrown.

How to soften toenails

To avoid causing further damage to your toe or toenails, you should keep your nails trimmed to a moderate length. However, when toenails are infected with fungus this is not always as easy as it may seem. 

Managing fungal toenails is often a difficult task because of how the toenail fungus changes the nail itself. Simply trimming fungal toenails can be impossible because of the hardening effect of toenail fungus.

Additionally, fungal toenails can become very thick to the point where they won’t even fit between the blades of your nail clippers. When fungal toenails are like this, they can either appear as multiple layers of nails growing on top of each other or simply one big thickened nail.

Importance of Softening Toenails

Softening the toenails allows your nail clippers to cut through the nail surface with more ease, which is important when toenails are hardened or thickened with fungus. Softening toenails can be safely done at home without the need for medical supervision, which makes this a good technique to do while waiting for treatment from a medical professional.

To soften toenails at home, all you need is a bathtub or other container where you can fit your feet. Fill the container with enough warm water to fully submerge your feet and then let your feet soak for 20-40 minutes. During this time, your toenails will absorb the water they’re soaking in.

The water they absorb will soften them and make them easier to cut. Immediately after soaking your toenails, see if there is any improvement in the ease of cutting them. If you are able to trim your nails successfully, then the softening treatment has done its job!

Staying consistent with the maintenance

Managing fungal toenails that are resistant to softening is still possible. If your nails aren’t soft enough to trim after soaking them in water once, try trimming them on consecutive days to see if that has any improved effect. Soaking your nails regularly can help them to absorb more water, which will continue to make them softer.

If repeated soaking sessions don’t have any improvement on your ability to cut your nails, you can try applying nail softening creams to them as well.  Apply nail softening creams to your nails immediately after you soak them; the water the nails absorb will compound the effects of the nail softening cream. 

Managing fungal toenails involves more than just grooming them. To properly manage toenails in this condition, you need to eliminate the root cause of the problem: the fungus itself. This is often more difficult to accomplish than it may seem since fungal infections can be difficult to get rid of.

Toenail Treatment Options

The best treatment available for toenail fungus infection is the PinPointe laser, which typically only requires one treatment to completely eliminate the fungus from under the nail bed. 

You can simply trim the old damaged nail as you normally would until the new healthy nail completely covers the nail bed. The new healthy nail should be soft, thin, and easy to cut. To learn more about how the PinPointe laser eliminates fungus under the nail to make the nails more manageable, visit our website here.