Since currently more than 20% of the world's population is infected with fungus on the feet and sometimes on the hands, many know how unpleasant this disease is and what consequences it entails. However, not everyone is familiar with the information about what microorganisms cause this disease and what types of nail fungus exist.
In addition to the forms of the disease, its specific characteristics and treatment methods, it would be useful to know how many different types of fungi lead to the destruction of nails and damage to various areas of the feet and hands.
Causes of the disease and its symptoms
With the causes of the disease, everything can be quite complicated, since a person is easily infected with a fungus, both due to the weakness of his body, and due to the fact that he exposes himself to constant contact with infected people or objects.
At the moment, the following are the main causes of the disease:
- Visit saunas, showers and public swimming pools;
- Increased sweating of the feet;
- Using someone else's shoes or hygiene products;
- Weak immunity and so on.
Manifestations of the fungus in the affected areas include the following symptoms:
- Formation of scales on the skin of the feet and nails;
- flaking and itching of the skin;
- Appearance of cracks;
- Thickening of infected skin and nails;
- Changes in nail color;
- Destruction of the nail structure.
Important!
In any case, toenail fungus and any other forms of its manifestation cause a lot of problems and therefore it is worth addressing the prevention and treatment of the disease in a timely manner.
Forms and types of disease
In this case everything is quite complicated, since the types of fungal nail diseases are distributed according to various criteria.
The classification is as follows:
- According to the depth of penetration and the position of the fungus;
- According to the size of the nail thickening;
- By type of pathogen;
- By stage of development (early, second, advanced).
If we take the type of pathogens as an example, in this case the patient will have to study the names in Latin for a long time, so it is not worth delving too much into unnecessary information with the names, it is better to understand in detail the manifestations of nail fungus and how all this is reflected on the nails.
Classification based on depth of penetration and position on the nail
In this case, the forms of the disease are divided into the following points:
- Distal. This type of onychomycosis appears on the extreme part of the nail (free), and is characterized by a change in color and the beginning of delamination with destruction of the structure. Furthermore, the spot begins to grow in size;
- Lateral. The main signs are similar to the previous shape, but the color of the nail changes on one or both sides of the nail;
- White surface. This form of fungus is expressed by the appearance of numerous spots on the nail, which ultimately lead to its complete destruction;
- Proximal. The disease originates from the cuticle (it becomes inflamed) and gradually spreads to the entire nail, destroying it;
- Total onychomycosis. The color of the entire nail plate changes, which leads to faster destruction.
Classification based on the size of the nail thickening
This classification has only 3 forms, which allow you to separate the levels of compaction to which a fungus-infected nail succumbs.
In this case it is:
- Normotrophic form. With this form of the disease, separate foci of the disease appear on the nail, which have a slightly different color. The thickness of the nail does not change;
- Hypertrophic form. The nail begins to thicken, changes color, deforms, gradually collapses and it is no longer so comfortable to walk;
- Onycholytic. With this form, nail fungus leads to detachment of the layer from the finger, and if you delay the treatment, bringing everything to such an extent, you don't have to think about saving the nail.
Of course, the types of toenail fungus themselves are distributed depending on the pathogen. There are three main types of microorganisms, but they have their own varieties.
Classification by type of pathogen
In this case, three types of pathogens can be distinguished, each of which has its own subspecies. It is worth noting that these microorganisms can also appear on the hands, but since hand hygiene is more common, this happens less often.
The distribution looks like this:
- Mold. This is one of the simplest forms of fungus because the mold is unable to penetrate deeply into the affected area. However, manifestations on the toenails are still possible. The main signs are a change in color, ranging from black to green. Occasionally, spots of the same color may appear on the skin of the fingers. There are more than 5 types of mold;
- Dermatophyte. There are 3 main pathogens that cause more severe symptoms. The appearance of gray and yellow stripes, detachment of the nail and, even worse, microorganisms of this type are capable of infecting the entire foot;
- Yeast fungus. This mushroom is well known because it belongs to the Candida genus, also responsible for the development of thrush. The characteristics of the symptoms in case of infection with such a fungus are a decrease in the thickness of the nail, a change in its color to gray, detachment and damage to the finger, up to its inflammation.
It is worth noting that due to the presence of subspecies, only a specialist will be able to prescribe the correct drugs for the fungus, independent selection of means will be simply useless.
Finally
Some experts identify other forms of the disease, taking into account the manifestations of the disease on the hands, however, guided by the types known to science, you can understand what kind of fungus it is by looking at the symptoms that appear.
But this does not mean at all that you can self-medicate in this way, since there are other diseases that lead to a change in the color of the nail, as well as its peeling. For this reason, if fungus suddenly appears on your nails, you should immediately contact a doctor, for example, a dermatologist, and take a comprehensive approach to solving this problem.