Question:
Question: How long does it take toenail fungus to damage toenails and make them thicker?
Answer:
This is a typical question from patients with mild cases of toenail fungus:
"Hi Doc...
I have a mild case of toenail fungus. Only the big toenails have the white spots and thicker nail that suggests a toenail fungal infection. However my dad’s toes are a different story.
We recently had a house call podiatrist come to the home to check his feet. When I saw my dad’s toes, I was horrified at the sight of his toenails! All of his toenails are yellow, thick and curving in odd directions. The big toenails are incredibly thick...nearly as thick as the toes themselves. They are crusty and flaking as well. Dad said that his toenails are so thick he hasn’t been able to cut them himself for years.
The podiatrist told us that super-thick fungal toenails are really not that rare in elderly people. He said that the appearance of dad’s fungal toenails is characteristic of a longstanding toenail fungus infection.
My question is, “How long will it take for my mildly infected fungal toenails to get as thick as my father’s fungal toenails?”
The rate at which toenail fungus gets worse depends upon the type of fungus that has infected the toenail and your body’s ability to fight and slow the infection.
Fortunately the most common forms of toenail fungus are not caused by overly aggressive organisms. Trychophyton rubrum and Trychophyton mentagrophytes are responsible for most of the toenail fungus infections. There are some less common fungal organisms that progress rapidly, but again, those are rare.
If you are young, healthy, have good blood circulation in your feet and have a strong immune system, you should expect the common forms of toenail fungus to get worse very slowly...almost unnoticeably slowly. You won’t notice any change from day-to-day. In fact, you may not see a change from month-to-month.
If you takes pictures every few months and then compare over a long period of time, you may gradually notice that the areas of white and yellow discoloration are getting bigger. This may be your only indication that the toenail fungus is spreading and getting worse. If the fungus goes untreated for a long period, you may even notice that the toenail is getting thicker as well.
But even if you are healthy and have a strong immune system that is fighting the toenail fungus infection, don’t expect your immune system to win. Toenail fungus is not something that you “get over” the way you might get over a cold or a case of the flu. When toenail fungus gets inside the toenail and starts to grow it is there to stay...unless you treat it. If you don’t treat the fungus it will simply continue to grow.
Over time the fungus spreads throughout the toenail. As the toenail fungus grows, it begins to separate the keratin that forms the toenail. The cracks and splits in the keratin change the way light refracts through the toenail. Once that happens you notice white or yellow areas of the toenail where the keratin has been infiltrated and damaged by the thriving fungus.
If the toenail fungus does enough damage, the nail plate may become misshapen enough to actually separate from the underlying nail bed. This usually creates large opaque white spot because the pink skin of the nail bed is no longer flush against the undersurface of the toenail. When this happens, it is usually at the end of the toenail in one of the corners.
As the fungal infection continues to get worse, the fungus bores its way through the toenail, moving closer to the root of the nail or “matrix.” The toenails grows directly outward from the matrix. The matrix is the same size, same thickness and same curvature as a cross section of the toenail.
If the fungus thickens the toenail and stretches out the matrix, the damage is permanent. At that point, even after you remove the fungus from the toenail, the matrix is permanently deformed and the toenail will always grow out thicker.
If your immune system has been weakened by chronic disease, malnutrition, HIV infection or over-training, the fungus can grow and spread at a much faster rate.
So, back to the real question. How long does it take for toenail fungus to become irreparably damaged and terribly thickened?
In many young healthy adults toenail fungus will worsen over the course of a year before the problem seems noticeable. In five years the common forms of toenail fungus can form substantial thickening and possibly permanent damage to the nail plate. But it may take ten years of more to develop the kind of grossly deformed thickened toenails like your father. The fact is, given what you describe, your father has likely had toenail fungus for decades.
Dr. Christopher Segler offers concierge laser toenail fungus treatment services in San Francisco, Marin and Silicon Valley. If you have toenail fungus he will bring the laser directly to you. If you have a question about laser treatment of toenail fungus, you can reach him directly at 415-308-0833.
Fortunately the most common forms of toenail fungus are not caused by overly aggressive organisms. Trychophyton rubrum and Trychophyton mentagrophytes are responsible for most of the toenail fungus infections. There are some less common fungal organisms that progress rapidly, but again, those are rare.
If you are young, healthy, have good blood circulation in your feet and have a strong immune system, you should expect the common forms of toenail fungus to get worse very slowly...almost unnoticeably slowly. You won’t notice any change from day-to-day. In fact, you may not see a change from month-to-month.
If you takes pictures every few months and then compare over a long period of time, you may gradually notice that the areas of white and yellow discoloration are getting bigger. This may be your only indication that the toenail fungus is spreading and getting worse. If the fungus goes untreated for a long period, you may even notice that the toenail is getting thicker as well.
But even if you are healthy and have a strong immune system that is fighting the toenail fungus infection, don’t expect your immune system to win. Toenail fungus is not something that you “get over” the way you might get over a cold or a case of the flu. When toenail fungus gets inside the toenail and starts to grow it is there to stay...unless you treat it. If you don’t treat the fungus it will simply continue to grow.
Over time the fungus spreads throughout the toenail. As the toenail fungus grows, it begins to separate the keratin that forms the toenail. The cracks and splits in the keratin change the way light refracts through the toenail. Once that happens you notice white or yellow areas of the toenail where the keratin has been infiltrated and damaged by the thriving fungus.
If the toenail fungus does enough damage, the nail plate may become misshapen enough to actually separate from the underlying nail bed. This usually creates large opaque white spot because the pink skin of the nail bed is no longer flush against the undersurface of the toenail. When this happens, it is usually at the end of the toenail in one of the corners.
As the fungal infection continues to get worse, the fungus bores its way through the toenail, moving closer to the root of the nail or “matrix.” The toenails grows directly outward from the matrix. The matrix is the same size, same thickness and same curvature as a cross section of the toenail.
If the fungus thickens the toenail and stretches out the matrix, the damage is permanent. At that point, even after you remove the fungus from the toenail, the matrix is permanently deformed and the toenail will always grow out thicker.
If your immune system has been weakened by chronic disease, malnutrition, HIV infection or over-training, the fungus can grow and spread at a much faster rate.
So, back to the real question. How long does it take for toenail fungus to become irreparably damaged and terribly thickened?
In many young healthy adults toenail fungus will worsen over the course of a year before the problem seems noticeable. In five years the common forms of toenail fungus can form substantial thickening and possibly permanent damage to the nail plate. But it may take ten years of more to develop the kind of grossly deformed thickened toenails like your father. The fact is, given what you describe, your father has likely had toenail fungus for decades.
Dr. Christopher Segler offers concierge laser toenail fungus treatment services in San Francisco, Marin and Silicon Valley. If you have toenail fungus he will bring the laser directly to you. If you have a question about laser treatment of toenail fungus, you can reach him directly at 415-308-0833.
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