Lasers

I am unhappy with my situation.

My doctor took me off Terbinafine after 6 months saying that it simply did not work. He was correct, because it didn't. My nails did not really get any better. Had it been my decision I would have stuck with it because I did not feel bad from it and I want to do everything I can to fight this infection, even if we can't say if one particular part in a multi-treatment works at all. If it doesn's harm me, let me stick with it.

After that nothing much happened for a couple of months. But now things are getting worse.... My thumbnail is horrible, almost completely loose. It is uncomfortable and it is actually painful. This has never been painful before. There is a numbing sensation of pain where the loosened nail meets the finger. As of now, I still stick to my amorolfine nail lacquer once a week, and terbinafine cream every day. I dropped vinegar again because I suspect it may not be good for my nails (what do I know) and back to sodium benzoate. It feels more gentle on the skin and does not produce that tingling sensation that vinegar does, I don't know if maybe the vinegar has been too hard on the nail bed, actually helping the infection.


Lasers are quite hot at the moment (haha). PinPointe and Nomir claim extraordinary results with their laser treatments for onychomycosis. However, these treatments are yet to be proven effective in quality independent studies. Nomir with their Noveon foot laser expected approval from the north american food and drug-administration in 2009, but so far no luck as far as one can see on their webpage.

Pinpointe boast with extraordinary claims, and I think one should expect these treatments to be effective to some extent, because if they did not do anything whatsoever they should not be around still. However, we don't know HOW effective they are until scientific independent studies have been done to a larger extent. As of now the treatments are fairly new (a couple of years) and the claims should be taken with a grain of salt.


That being said, I would gladly try it out for 1000 US$ if it was available in my neighbourhood. It looks rather promising on paper, and if it is effective it has huge potential considering it is non-toxic and it does not demand much of the patient when it comes to long-term labor.... Stay clean and disinfect your clothes and shoes, sounds better than for example soaking your feet in vinegar for several minutes twice a day......