What are the consequences of not treating onychomycosis?

If you suffer from onychomycosis, you must never ignore treatment, because if you do not pay attention to treatment, the impact and consequences will be relatively large. Not only will it affect the beauty and temperament of the nails, but it may also invade the internal organs of the human body due to some fungal infection, threatening our physical health.

(1) Nails have great physiological significance for us. Human activities such as threading a needle, writing, cooking, typing, weaving, and playing musical instruments all require the assistance of nails. Once you suffer from onychomycosis, this kind of work will be disrupted. Nails grow at the ends of the hands to protect them; once they become diseased, the hands will be easily injured by collisions. Besides, scratching an itch is troublesome without nails.

(2) “Hands are a person’s second face.” The beauty of hands directly affects a person’s temperament. The beauty of hands lies largely in the nails. Having onychomycosis on the hands does affect the appearance, and patients may even feel ashamed and embarrassed when shaking hands with others.

(3) The fungus that causes onychomycosis is extremely stubborn and always waiting for an opportunity to spread pathogenic fungi to the outside world. Onychomycosis patients can easily become a source of infection. People with onychomycosis may spread the fungus to other parts of the body as they scratch, causing new ringworm. In severe cases, the disease may be transmitted to family and friends. Family members and friends often get onychomycosis from changing shoes, touching hands and feet, and sharing daily necessities. Once infected, it is easy to develop serious skin diseases such as tinea manuum, pedis, tinea corporis, tinea cruris, and erysipelas. Onychomycosis is not only contagious and harmful to skin tissue, but also invades the internal organs of the human body and even causes death.

(4) The consequences of nail damage are not limited to aesthetics, but may affect or even endanger the patient's work, especially those who are in the public eye or have strict hygiene requirements. For example, there are restrictions on jobs such as doctors and nurses, catering industry, silk weavers, and public relations.

(5) Onychomycosis patients, especially when long-term treatment is ineffective, often feel an inescapable sense of embarrassment and frustration. Especially when certain aspects, such as work, marriage, and social life fail due to onychomycosis, the psychological blow to the patient is greater than that of normal people, and he often develops a sense of inferiority.