What are the symptoms of onychomycosis? Characteristics of onychomycosis

In many cases, onychomycosis is caused by fungal infection and is therefore highly contagious. However, some patients are unaware of this, which ultimately leads to the entire family suffering from the disease. So, what are the common symptoms of onychomycosis?

1. Turbidity: After the fungus invades the nail plate or nail bed, due to the rapid reproduction of a large number of hyphae and spores, a large amount of keratin accumulates on the nail bed. The symptoms of this kind of onychomycosis are that the nail plate becomes turbid and opaque when viewed with the naked eye. Therefore, onychomycosis is commonly known as gray finger (toe) nails.

2. Thickening: After the fungus invades the nail plate or nail bed, the keratin in the nail plate proliferates rapidly due to the action of the fungus. The accumulation of keratin causes the nail plate to thicken. The thickening of the nail plate also deepens the opacity of the nail bed. Generally, it can be 1 to 3 times thicker than a normal nail plate.

3. The nail plate becomes brittle and easy to break: As fungi invade the nail plate and nail bed, the keratin protein is dissolved under the action of keratinase to form tiny keratin particles. The damaged nail plate lacks elasticity and toughness and becomes brittle. The keratin particles become powdery, easy to fall off, loose and become fragmented.

4. Uneven surface: The symptoms of this type of onychomycosis are due to the accumulation of keratin on the deck or under the deck, and the deck is damaged, making the surface of the deck rough, uneven, and dull. This unevenness may be either longitudinal or transverse. At the same time, it can also be understood that the main lesions of diseased nails are under the nail plate.

5. Discoloration: Fungal accumulation on or under the deck. Different fungal hyphae or spores can have color themselves. Diseased, thickened nail plates may also show color. The keratin under the diseased nail falls off, allowing dirt to enter and take on color. When the deck is damaged and debris falls off, it will also take on color. It can be dirty gray, brown, white, yellow, black, etc.

6. Nail stratification: The thickened keratin becomes dry, flaky and brittle, and it is easy to fall off from between the nail plate and the nail bed, making the surface of the nail, which was originally bonded to the flesh of the finger, hollow. That is, the nail is divided into two layers, the surface layer is separated from the flesh of the finger, and another thin layer of nail is separated.

The texture sticks to the finger meat.