Many people have experienced horror stories of how going for a pedicure at a local nail salon has caused toenails to go yellow and crumble with a possible fungal infection but should the salons be to blame as the cause of the problem? It seems obvious it is the salons which spread the fungal spores from one client to another but it is important to understand that the introduction of fungal spores is not so easy.
To become infected firstly the nail bed would first need to be cut to allow the fungal spore to be introduced.
The immune system then should also be in a compromised situation with the ability to fight the infection readily.
These types of wounds are more likely to cause bacterial infection.
As fungal nail infections are on the rise and seen as common ailment now it seems easy to blame salons for being responsible.
More and more we see people who have had an infection that has spread to all ten toes but the causative mechanism is not necessarily a bad pedicure.
The organisms responsible for infections are present almost everywhere and although they do not "crawl under" the toe nail to infect it, it is rarely a localized phenomenon even after an infection occurs after sustaining an injury.
Toenail fungus may in fact be the result of an internal fungal infection where that human body, in order to deal with these infection causing organisms discharges them through the skin.
Many people fail to realize the skin is the largest organ of elimination and injured tissue tends to be more metabolically active during the process of repair then at other times.
This increased activity can provide a great site for discharging the internal fungal infection organisms.
Toenail infections can be a result of excess fungi in the gastrointestinal tract (GI) which will lead to the eventual discharge you will notice as a toenail infection.
This occurs commonly through the food material that is ingested.
The GI tract serves the purpose of digestion by assimilation of foodstuffs.
Much of the food that humans consume can contain high levels of fungus and mycotoxins.
If conditions that allow for their growth are present and found to be ideal, these fungi and mycotoxins can begin to populate the intestinal lining.
Certain foods have a higher concentration of mycotoxins then others.
These can include grains, nuts, sugars and cheese.
Grains will have what is considered as "universal contamination" due to the fact they contain many different types of fungi.
Sugars which also have a high level of contaminates also serve as fuel to the growth of them, sugar being the fuel of choice to fungi.
Any food high in sugar including fruit can be included in this grouping.
Nuts especially peanuts are known to be heavily contaminated and the fungus is also present in cheese especially those where the mold is visible.
Once present within the GI tract the fungus can easily spread to colonize the entire tract.
The fungus can compete with the local flora of a healthy gut and end up displacing them given enough time.
The consumption of fermented and acidic foods will accelerate the process.
There are other scenarios that can make you more prone to fungal nail infection.
The overuse of antibiotics is known to damage healthy gut flora and can allow the overgrowth of fungus.
Some anti inflammatory drugs cause incompletely digested food to enter the bloodstream which will end up suppressing the body's immune system.
Other conditions which can cause issues are things like digestive disorders, diabetes, chronic adrenal stress and heavy metal toxicity.
As you can see toenail infection is more often a symptom of a much larger issue and only be addressing these issues can one safely eliminate the problem and its symptoms.