I have a joke about nail fungus, but it has to grow on you Lots of people get nail fungus. It's easy to pick up in the environment just walking around the problem with nail fungus, also called onychomycosis, is that it is very difficult to get rid of. Your nail beds get very poor blood supply, and fungus is amazingly resilient and tough to kill, so any treatment to help improve it or get rid of it takes a very long time. If you've ever dealt with dry rot or mold in your house, you know that you have to completely remove anything it's even come close to touching. For most people, there is no actual harm that comes from having nail fungus. The only time we see that is either when the amount of fungus under a nail gets so substantial it starts causing pain due to the pressure or sometimes when it creates small breaks in the skin around the nail that lead to a skin infection called cellulitis. Outside of those two circumstances, treatment is generally purel...
Scott Selinger, MD, FACP musing on the questions you keep meaning to ask your doctor