The smell from toenail fungus infection can be an embarrassing symptom that is frustrating to treat. Toenail fungus infection itself is caught very easily because of its high potential for contagion.

For example, fungal spores often attach to the floors of public areas like public pools and public locker rooms. They can also attach to tools used at nail salons, which can transfer the fungus between customers. The smell caused by toenail fungus infection can be one of the most impactful symptoms of this type of infection.

Symptoms of Toenail Fungus

The smell from toenail fungus infection is often embarrassing because of the connotations attached to smelly feet. For people without toenail fungus, this perception makes more sense since the smell can normally be washed away with soap and water. However, toenail fungus isn’t particularly more common in people who are unhygienic.

The condition can actually affect anybody, even people who wash their feet thoroughly and regularly. The smell from toenail fungus infection often can’t be washed away with just soap and water, since the smell comes from underneath the nails where soap and water can’t penetrate. The smell from this condition can often feel embarrassing because of the stigma and societal associations with smelly feet. 

Why do my nails smell?

The smell from toenail fungus infection usually smells like cheese and worsens when the nails are cut. If you have smelly toes that get worse when you cut your nails, you likely have toenail fungus. It is even more likely that you have a toenail fungus if you have other symptoms of this condition. Specifically, toenail fungus can cause a plethora of aesthetic damages to the nails’ condition.

For example, toenail fungus infection will commonly make the surface of the nail appear discolored in different ways. This discoloration normally will first appear as a small dot or stripe of color on the normal surface of the nail. This can then grow to cover a larger portion of the nail, and can even eventually discolor the whole nail. This discoloration can show up in multiple different colors. The most common toenail fungus discoloration colors are white, yellow, brown, and black. 

Other symptoms causing Toenail Fungus

The smell from toenail fungus infection is often associated with the other aesthetic changes toenail fungus can have aside from discoloration. For example, toenail fungus infection can often make debris build up underneath the nail. This debris build-up can make the toenail fungus smell worse because of the exposure it can have to the air.

Additionally, the toenail fungus infection can cause the nail to become cracked or disintegrated. This also exposes the nail fungus in the nail bed to the environment, which can make the smell worse. Toenail fungus is also more common during summer months or heavy exercise since fungal growth is facilitated by moist, damp environments like sweaty socks. 

The smell from toenail fungus infection is often frustrating to treat because of the nature of nail fungus. To treat fungal smell effectively, the best thing to do is eliminate the actual fungus itself. This solves the root issue of the smell, which will make it much easier to manage. However, toenail fungus treatment isn’t always straightforward. The location of the fungus in the nail bed makes it a difficult condition to treat since medications must be able to penetrate the nail bed without being strong enough to damage the nail or skin surrounding it.

Treatment Options for Fungus

Medications attempt to do this in multiple ways that are often unsuccessful. For example, topical antifungal medications are notoriously ineffective. Some of them require up to a year of application before seeing any results, and even then there is a big chance that they will have no effect at all. This is because they are ineffective at penetrating through the nail to the nail bed to deliver a potent amount of antifungal medication.

Oral medications bypass the nail by delivering antifungal medications through the bloodstream that feeds the tissue of the toe. However, in doing this they pose a bigger risk to the body. By going through the blood, oral antifungal medications have to first be processed in the liver. 

Laser for Toenail Fungus

Treating smell from toenail fungus infection doesn’t have to be dangerous or ineffective. The PinPointe laser treatment only requires one session to eliminate the fungus under the nail bed and doesn’t have any downtime or side effects associated with it. To learn more about this treatment or schedule a free consultation with a licensed podiatrist, give us a call at 1-(800) 672-0625 or visit our website for more information.