Is this a nail fungus?

[emma/tenerife]

Hope someone out there can shed some light.
I recently had a new client come into the salon for a pedicure and i noticed that one of her toe nails looked very dry and had a white speckly appearence.It didnt seem to be all the way through the nail but just the top few layers,and when i asked the client how long it had been that way she said it started about a month ago and has since spread to cover most of the nail.There was definatly no 'greenies' in sight,help-im confused!

 

[kffbass]

Does she have any other skin issues?

You can generally rule out Luekonychia if the client does not have a history of psoriasis of the skin.

Has she had a different polish than normal on? Formaldehyde overexposure can create nail plate issues. Rule out product reaction, for example: I can not use Essie polish on my nails, my nails within a few weeks become extremely dehydrated from it and I loose the top couple layers by them flaking away. Yuk!

It could be Superficial Onychomycosis which looks like flaky white spots and pitting on the top of the plate. I found this on a medical site:

White Superficial Onychomycosis (WSO): This infection is seen in only 10% of all cases of Onychomycosis. The most common causative organism is Trichophyton mentagrophytes. Because this infection usually involves only the outer surface of the nail, it is considered to be the easiest to treat with topical anti-fungal medications.

• Early Symptoms:
  • The fungual infection involves only the outer surface of the nail.
  • The infected portion of the nail appears to be covered with a layer of white material which adheres to the nail plate. In the early stages of this infection, the white material can be easily scrapped off of the nail plate.
  • The nail plate remains attached to the nail bed.
• Late Symptoms:
  • The entire nail plate may turn white in color.
  • The nail plate becomes dry, deformed, and crumbly. It may appear that the nail is "falling apart."
  • Usually there is no pain involved with this type of infection.

Maybe some other geeks will have a better idea.

Hope this helps
Shiloh

 

[geeg]

The answer is to send her to a podiatrist who will correctly diagnose the condition and advise a treatment, before you pedicure her feet again.

It is not our job as nail technicians to diagnose these problems ... you will only be speculating as you do not have the expertise,knowledge or the training to diagnose nail disorders; nor should you be tempted to do so. That should be left to those who can.

 

[emma/tenerife]

thanks guys i'll definatley bare this in mind,its all a big help.Theres nothing worse than when a client is waiting for an explanation and i just dont have an answer.Geeg,your reply is a big weight off my mind!

 

[kffbass]

I never meant for this to sound like a diagnosis, just the thought process I go through if I have a client with this kind of problem. Looking at all angles, product reaction is something that could by "my fault" so to speak, and also something I can fix/change. I never work on a client that I have had no history with that comes in with a wierd powdery nail. Now if I can rule out a few things and realize that if I just change my base coat? That's a different story. I spend time really learning about diseases and disorders for my own knowledge, but product reaction does happen.

Always, as Geeg said; consult a Dr. if you don't know what you are looking at.

Shiloh