What Is This?

[tracey louise]

this is my mums toe nail. i at first thought this was a fungal infection so i have always refused to treat her but it always appears after she has worn nail varnish.so do you think it could be dehydration?
its always on her big toe and never on any others.
she wanted twinkle toes done but im worried incase it is a fungal infection as i dont want to contaminate anything.
thanks for any advice/info :biggrin:

 

[Bev Rose]

Hi Tracey,

Well, first of all I would say it's definatley not normal for a toe nail to look like this after removing nail enamel.

Personally, I would tell her to go to the doctors, as I personally would not want to touch it incase it is a fungal infection. We cannot diagnose as you know.

How long has she had this?

It looks like it is crumbling, if you were to use your cutcile pusher, scraper on it, I'd guess it would come away in little flakes. That is like one of my new clients had, when I removed her old polish on her big toe(previously had a pedi elsewhere), there was an area in the middle of the nail at the side like this, not soo white looking though, and the hyponychium was not affected by this as it was higher up in the nail.
I said I was not happy about treating her till she'd seen a doctor & she admitted she'd had a previous fungal toe nail infection & was self treating with Tea Tree oil.
She was a regular nail client and spent a fortune and tipped very well, but I lost her as a client through my refusing to perform a pedi. I am not too upset by it, as she could of contaminated some of my stuff. But for her to decide to leave because of this is silly. She did not tell me that, I have assumed, as she wanted to have regular pedis every month and I would not do them until it was cleared up.
Sorry to waffle on!

 

[ValencianNails]

One of my pedi clients gets something that looks like this on her big toenails from time to time. I believe it to be severe dehydration as it disappears after she's had her feet soaking and had the full spa treatment, it doesn't show at every pedi appt (approx 4 weekly) and she has a lot of medical conditions to consider too.
Ask her to see either her doctor or a chiropodist to be on the safe side :wink2:

 

[tracey louise]

hi bev thanks for the info.
i did think it was a fungal infection which is why i wouldnt treat her but i told her i would ask anyway.
she has just removed nail polish which i think she has had on a few weeks (maybe) i didnt paint them so im not sure but im sure it wasnt there before.
she has previously had treatment for a fungal infection,she just had wait till it just grew out.
i became more curious as it only appears after she has worn nail polish.
is it possible for nail polish to cause a fungal infection?

 

[tracey louise]

One of my pedi clients gets something that looks like this on her big toenails from time to time. I believe it to be severe dehydration as it disappears after she's had her feet soaking and had the full spa treatment, it doesn't show at every pedi appt (approx 4 weekly) and she has a lot of medical conditions to consider too.
Ask her to see either her doctor or a chiropodist to be on the safe side :wink2:

thanks sandi :biggrin:
can i ask what you soaked your clients feet in? as this may be something my mum could do herself without having to use any of my things,lol.x

 

[ValencianNails]

thanks sandi :biggrin:
can i ask what you soaked your clients feet in? as this may be something my mum could do herself without having to use any of my things,lol.x

CND Raw Earth Spa Pedi and 'regular' CND Spa Pedi products
It seems to happen more in the winter than the summer, no idea why, but it doesn't seem to get worse and looks the same every time it 'appears'.

 

[MrsMacTheKnife]

Hi there, it looks like SWO to me (superficial white onychomycosis) - the best way I have found of treating it is by gently debriding the surface (white block would do but chuck it straight out afterwards!) and treating with tea tree oil on a daily basis.

I own a day spa and we routinely perform pedicures on clients with fungal nail infections - in fact, pedicures are probably our most requested treatment - files and orange sticks etc are only used once, disposable towels are used and we autoclave all our instruments - sorted!

Take care, Mrs Mac

Forgot to say, it take ages to go away, perseverance is the key...

 

[geeg]

Hi there, it looks like SWO to me (superficial white onychomycosis) - the best way I have found of treating it is by gently debriding the surface (white block would do but chuck it straight out afterwards!) and treating with tea tree oil on a daily basis.

I own a day spa and we routinely perform pedicures on clients with fungal nail infections - in fact, pedicures are probably our most requested treatment - files and orange sticks etc are only used once, disposable towels are used and we autoclave all our instruments - sorted!

Take care, Mrs Mac

Forgot to say, it take ages to go away, perseverance is the key...

If this is WSO (not SWO) then neither you nor your salon should be treating it at all. First you are not qualified to diagnose this condition (according to your profile) and secondly WSO is a fungal condition that should be treated by a podiatrist or doctor not a salon.

Advice such as you give in your post should not be handed out on here and even the poster should not be asking on here as none of us are trained to diagnose or prescribe for a fungal condition (if that is what it is ??). It could in fact be a number of things that in a photo all look very similar .. a proper test needs to be carried out to determine.

 

[MrsMacTheKnife]

Hi there, I really need to fill in my profile, lol. I'm a foot health practitioner so I am qualified to diagnose and treat the condition.

But thanks for pointing out the schoolgirl error - it is WSO - I had a horrible migraine last week and still feel fuzzy headed so that's my excuse!

Take care, Mrs Mac

 

[katiebbaby]

One of my pedi clients gets something that looks like this on her big toenails from time to time. I believe it to be severe dehydration as it disappears after she's had her feet soaking and had the full spa treatment, it doesn't show at every pedi appt (approx 4 weekly) and she has a lot of medical conditions to consider too.
Ask her to see either her doctor or a chiropodist to be on the safe side :wink2:

It to me does not look fungal or bacterial. It looks like false leukonychia (soz cant spell) which is a result of constant polish wearing and dehydration,,,,or in finger nails overuse of acetone or primer over long periods. true Leukonychia can be the whole nail being white.

I would think lots of solar oil and will do trick xxx :biggrin::biggrin:

 

[annasmum]

Hi there, I really need to fill in my profile, lol. I'm a foot health practitioner so I am qualified to diagnose and treat the condition.

But thanks for pointing out the schoolgirl error - it is WSO - I had a horrible migraine last week and still feel fuzzy headed so that's my excuse!

Take care, Mrs Mac

Now what is a foot health practitioner?

 

[Miss Pink23]

My sister and I both get exactly this on out toes, she has been to the doctor and given a sample for analysis and it came back fine, nothing to worry about. Obviously it may look the same but be something different, but in our cases its fine. Sometimes you can file it away, others you have to let it grow out and in my sisters case sometimes a bit of the nail falls off-a bloody pain-but nothing to stress about.
x

 

[tracey louise]

my mum has just told me that this white mark on her toe nail seems to disapear after shes come out of the shower and when she used nail varnish remover on it. would it do this if it was infection?

 

[ValencianNails]

my mum has just told me that this white mark on her toe nail seems to disapear after shes come out of the shower and when she used nail varnish remover on it. would it do this if it was infection?

It sounds the same as what my client has... if it were an infection then IMO it would still be the same no matter what she'd done with her toenails, showering or removing polish shouldn't make an infection change appearance.

Has she been to see her doctor/chiropodist about it yet?

 

[tracey louise]

she went to the doctors before when she had it and he didnt really look that much but gave her a pre scription for a fungal infection which she did use but the white mark just grew out up to the free edge untill she could eventually cut it off,it didnt get any worse though
i thought the same as you that if it was an infection it would change its appearance.
shes used an old file tonite and the white mark seems to have gone.

 

[annasmum]

The only way you can really tell if it is/was fungus is by having a sample taken and even then that's not always conclusive. If you have WSO and buff it the discoloration will disappear but could possibly come back if you didn't get it all. Was the surface kind of crumbly, chalky? I used to advise my patients to get some antifungal prep and pretty much use it until the nail had completely regrown. As most of the topical antifungal prep doesn't always get to where it needs to go and doesn't actually kill the fungus only stops it from multiplying.

I would agree with Geeg just from looking at a picture it's hard to say one way or the other.